ITS  HISToRY 


*  USES  AND 

TESTS 


EoRGE  THoPIPSoN  WALKER 


PETROLEUM 


ITS  HISTORY,    OCCURRENCE, 
PRODUCTION.  USES  an d  TESTS. 


By 
GEO.  T.  WALKER,  A.  B. 

Member  of  the  American  Chemical  Society. 
Chief  Chemist  for  The  Van  Tilbi  *  Co. 


ILLUSTRATED 

Price  $1-00 


MINNEAPOLIS 

IMPERIAL  PRINTING  COMPANY 
1915 


T 


Copyright,  1915. 

THE.  VAN  T1LBURG  OIL  COMPANY 
Published  December,  1915 


CONTENTS 

Chapter                                                                    Page 
Introductory   1 

T.  Origin  and  Occurrence  of  Petroleum ...     3 

II.  History  of  Petroleum 10 

III.  Production  and  Transportation  of  Pe- 
troleum     16 

IV.  Testing  Petroleum  Products 27 

V.  Refining  Crude  Petroleum 30 

VI.  Petroleum  Products  and  Their  Uses.  .  36 
Bibliography 40 

LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Page 
American  Valveless  Diesel  Engine  . .  .Frontispiece 

Diagram  of  Anticline  and  Syncline 4 

55,000  Barrel  Tank  on  Fire 5 

The  Boynton  Field,  Okla,,  Mar.  7,  1914 6 

The  Boynton  Field,  Okla.,  Aug.  20,  1915 7 

Crude  Oil  Stills 14 

Diagram  of  Oil  Derrick 18 

Big  Gusher  in  the  Caddo,  La.,  Field 22 

Vendor  of  Oil  Cans,  Constantinople 23 

Oil  Wells  in  a  Bayou,  Louisiana 26 

Oil  Wells  in  the  Ocean   34 

Producing  Casing  Head  Gasoline 40 

Oil  Wells  on  the  Cimarron  River,  Oklahoma  .  .  42 

Oil  Well  at  Katalla,  Alaska.  .                             .  44 


349284 


PREFACE. 

There  are  few  articles  so  generally  used  as  petroleum,  con- 
cerning which  the  general  public  has  so  little  information.  The 
average  man  or  woman  uses  some  of  these  products  daily — in 
fact,  modern  civilization  would  be  almost  impossible  without 
them, — but  very  few  know  anything  about  their  production  and 
proper  uses.  How  many  know  why  there  are  different  grades 
of  gasolines,  or  kerosenes,  of  lubricating  oils,  etc.,  and  have  any 
idea  which  grade  to  buy  for  their  special  purpose? 

This  little  book  is  intended  to  give  real  information  concern- 
ing some  of  these  matters  and  to  give  this  information  within 
a  small  compass,  so  that  those  who  read  it  will  not  be  discour- 
aged by  the  prospect  of  wading  through  a  large  volume  filled 
with  statistics  and  tables.  It  is  hoped  that  the  book  will  be 
readily  understood  by  young  people  of  high  school  age,  and 
yet  not  too  childish  to  prove  of  value  to  those  of  more  mature 
age,  who  have  never  known  much  about  the  modern  petroleum 
industry. 

Those  who  wish  to  go  further  into  this  interesting  subject  are 
referred  to  the  bibliography  given  at  the  back  of  this  book. 

Great  care  has  been  used  to  prevent  errors,  but  doubtless 
some  have  occurred,  and  the  author  would  greatly  appreciate 
it  if  his  readers  would  notify  him  of  any  errors  they  may  no- 
tice, so  that  they  may  be  corrected  in  a  future  edition. 

G.  T.  W. 

Minneapolis,  December  20,  1915. 


INTRODUCTORY. 

To  realize  more  fully  the  importance  of  petroleum  to  modern 
civilization,  let  us  consider  for  a  moment  what  would  happen 
if  we  were  to  remove  all  petroleum  products  from  the  world. 
Practically  all  of  the  rural  districts  would  be  left  in  darkness 
throughout  the  night;  all  the  work  now  done  by  gasoline  en- 
gines would  cease,  nearly  all  automobiles  would  be  worthless; 
practically  all  machinery  would  stop  for  lack  of  lubrication, 
many  of  the  modern  battleships  would  be  without  means  of 
propulsion;  Rocky  Mountain  railroads  could  not  operate;  the 
present  great  war  itself  would  be  entirely  changed,  for  the  lack 
of  petroleum  products  would  do  away  with  the  aeroplane,  the 
Zeppelin,  the  automobile,  and  auto  truck,  the  motorcycle,  and 
even  the  submarine;  in  fact,  temporarily  the  world  would  be 
almost  completely  paralyzed. 

And  what  would  serve  as  substitutes  for  these  products?  Un- 
til some  better  means  was  found  for  distributing  electricity  in 
thinly  settled  districts,  the  average  country  household  would 
be  thrown  back  on  the  tallow  dips  of  our  grandfathers  (the 
modern  candles  would  disappear  for  they  are  made  of  paraffine 
wax).  Steam  engines  would  replace  the  larger  gasoline  en- 
gines but  could  never  take  the  place  of  the  smaller  ones,  only 
manual  labor  could  replace  them. 

For  lubricants  we  would  have  to  fall  back  on  animal  and 
vegetable  oils  and  fats,  expensive  and  unsatisfactory.  High 
pressure  steam  engines  could  not  be  run  at  all  for  petroleum 
furnishes  the  only  satisfactory  lubricant  for  them.  True,  auto- 
mobiles, gasoline  engines',  etc.,  can  be  run  on  denatured  alcohol 
or  on  coal  tar  products,  but  these  are  high-priced,  denatured 
alcohol  depends  for  its  production  on  agriculture,  and  coal  tar 
products  are  merely  by-products  which  are  not  even  now  pro- 


PETROLEUM 


duced  in 'sufficient  quantity  to  meet  the  demand  for  use  in  the 
manufacture  of  explosives,  dyes  and  drugs. 

All  of  the  possible  substitutes  for  petroleum  products  are 
even  now  two  or  three  times  as  expensive,  they  are  practically 
all  products  of  agriculture  in  one  form  or  another  and  the  ne- 
cessity of  turning  so  many  of  these  products  into  other  chan- 
nels would  greatly  increase  the  cost  of  foods.  The  United 
States  exports  annually  over  1,000,000,000  gallons  of  kerosene 
alone.  This  enormous  quantity  represents  only  the  excess  pro- 
duced over  requirements  for  domestic  consumption.  Imagine 
the  enormous  number  of  cattle  required  to  yield  tallow  enough 
to  replace  this  one  item.  Where  would  we  raise  them  and  what 
would  we  feed  them?  The  world  would  drop  back  to  the  old 
fashioned  ways  and  our  promising  youths  would  again  have  to 
study  by  fire  light  as  Lincoln  did.  It  is  almost  possible  to  de- 
termine the  degree  of  education  prevalent  in  a  country  by  not- 
ing the  amount  of  kerosene  used  per  capita,  as  shown  in  the 
table  below : 

PER  CAPITA  CONSUMPTION  OF  KEROSENE  DURING  1911. 
(Compiled  by  Sir  Boverton  Redwood). 


GALLONS 


United  States 

7.3 

Rouinania 

1.8 

Canada 

4.0 

Austria 

1.8 

*  England 

3.9 

Japan 

1.6 

*  Germany 

3.6 

Brazil 

1.2 

Australia 

3.4 

Italy 

1.0 

France 

2.5 

Mexico 

.7 

Russia 

2.0 

India 

.6 

South  Africa 

2.0 

Spain 

.5 

Egypt 

1.9 

China 

.4 

Petroleum  ranks  second  in  value  of  all  our  mineral  products, 
being  exceeded  in  value  by  iron  alone.  The  United  States  pro- 
duces more  than  all  the  other  countries  of  the  world  combined. 
Certainly  then  it  behooves  each  of  us  to  have  some  general  in- 
formation concerning  this  product. 

*The  figures  for  some  of  the  more  thickly  populated  countries  would  be  considerably  increased 
if  the  population  of  all  cities  having  lighting  systems  were  to  be  deducted  before  determining  per 
capita  consumption. 


CHAPTER  I. 

ORIGIN  AND  OCCURRENCE  OF  PETROLEUM. 

Petroleum  (from  the  Greek  petros,  rock  and  oleum,  oil)  also 
known  as  rock  oil,  earth  oil,  or  mineral  oil,  occurs  very  widely 
distributed  throughout  the  world,  and  is  evidently  the  product 
of  strata  of  widely  separated  geological  periods. 

There  has  been  a  great  deal  of  controversy  regarding  the 
origin  of  petroleum.  Some  of  the  highest  authorities  claim 
that  it  is  produced  by  tfre  action  of  water  on  metallic  carbides 
which  they  assume  to  be  present  in  large  quantities  far  below 
the  earth's  surface.  The  simplest  illustration  of  such  a  reac- 
tion is  the  preparation  of  acetylene  gas  from  calcium  carbide 
and  water.  Chemists  have  actually  produced  products  closely 
resembling  petroleum  by  the  action  of  water  on  mixed  carbides, 
but  this  theory,  however  attractive,  is  too  fanciful  for  general 
acceptance. 

The  more  commonly  accepted  theory  attributes  petroleum  to 
large  deposits  of  organic  matter  which  have  been  subjected  to 
the  action  of  water,  or  steam  under  tremendous  pressure,  at  an 
elevated  temperature,  through  long  periods  of  time.  Whether 
this  organic-matter  was  of  animal  or  vegetable  origin  is  still  a 
question.  However,  one  of  the  most  plausible  theories  would 
have  us  believe  that  the  petroleum  found  in  the  Eastern  part 
of  the  United  States  is  of  vegetable  origin  while  the  crude  oils 
found  in  the  central  and  western  portions  are  almost  certainly 
of  animal,  or  mixed  animal  and  vegetable  origin.  It  is  almost 
necessary  to  adopt  some  such  theory  to  account  for  the  presence 
of  considerable  amounts  of  sulphur  and  large  amounts  of  nitro- 
gen compounds  in  some  of  these  oils.  These  sulphur  and  nitro- 
gen compounds  closely  resemble  compounds1  which  can  actually 
be  produced  in  the  laboratory  by  destructive  distillation  of  vari- 
ous kinds  of  animal  matter  but  could  scarcely  be  accounted  for 
by  any  theory  which  attributes  all  petroleum  to  a  purely  vege- 
table origin. 

In  the  early  days  of  the  petroleum  industry,  it  was  generally 
considered  that  the  oil  occurred  in  crevices  and  cavities  in  the 
rocks,  so  that  there  were  actual  rivers  and  lakes  of  oil.  This 
theory  was  supposed  to  explain  the  fact  that  an  abundant  sup- 
ply of  oil  might  be  struck  in  one  well  and  little  or  none  in  an- 
other one  only  a  short  distance  away.  It  is,  however,  very  well 


PETROLEUM 


ORIGIN  AND  OCCURRENCE 


known  that  under  the  tremendous  pressure  which  would  exist 
at  a  depth  of  several  hundred  feet,  there  could  be  no  large  cavi- 
ties, for  the  rock  under  these  conditions  would  gradually  fill 
in  any  crevices  which  might  be  formed.  So  tremendous  is  the 
pressure  that  most  rocks  are  in  a  plastic  form  and  could  a  large 
cavity  be  produced,  it  would  very  shortly  be  filled  in  by  the  rock 
surrounding  it. 

Petroleum  and  natural  gas  deposits  always  occur  below  an 
impervious  layer  which  is  generally  a  shale.  Wherever  a  porous 
limestone,  sandstone  or  conglomnierate  occur,  just  below  such 
a  layer  of  shale,  gas  or  oil  or  both  are  very  apt  to  be  found. 
These  rocks  are  sufficiently  porous  to  hold  anywhere  from  one- 
tenth  to  one-fifth  of  their  volume  of  oil,  and  even  if  they  held 
only  one-tenth,  this  would  account  for  even  the  very  largest 
yields  of  petroleum  without  any  necessity  of  imagining  enor- 
mous lakes  of  oil.  Even  though  at  present  we  do  not  believe 
that  the  oil  exists  in  cavities,  oil  fields  are  still  frequently 
spoken  of  as  "pools." 


Courtesy  of  the  National  Petroleum  News 
A  55,000  Barrel  Tank  on  Fire 


Of  course,  when  they  were  originally  deposited,  the  layers  of 
sandstone  or  other  porous  rock  were  horizontal,  but  as  the 
earth's  crust  has  cooled  and  contracted,  this  horizontal  layer 
has  formed  folds  more  or  less  pronounced.  These  folds  in 
places  have  given  rise  to  mountain  ranges,  but  throughout  the 
greater  part  of  the  world,  there  may  be  only  a  few  feet  between 


G 


PETROLEUM 


J 


the  top  and  bottom  of  one  of  these  rises.  The  top  of  the  fold 
is  called  an  anticline  and  the  trough  between  is  called  a  syn- 
cline.  As  the  oil  rises  through  the  porous  rock,  it  naturally  ac- 
cumulates in  the  anticline.  Generally  salt  water  occurs  in  con- 
nection with  petroleum  deposits  and,  of  course,  the  petroleum , 
being  lighter,  accumulates  in  a  layer  above  the  water.  When- 
ever gas  is  present,  it  will  be  found  under  great  pressure  in  a 
layer  above  the  oil.  By  referring  to  the  accompanying  diagram, 
it  is  easy  to  see  how  wells  comparatively  close  together  may 
strike  either  oil,  gas,  or  water.  It  is  also  easy  to  see  why  wells 
drilled  even  in  streams  or  lakes,  may  strike  oil  just  as  well  as 
those  drilled  on  the  tops  of  the  hills,  for  it  would  be  very  sel- 
dom that  the  valleys  on  the  surface  would  follow  the  same  lines 
as  these  valleys  or  troughs  several  hundred  feet  below  the  sur- 
face. 

R16JS:    QKUVfQMA 


Y///. 


0  SAoto  of  Oil  \  rA   Xecwcv*  secured  later 

0   Dry  hole      \JYTar  ^  J9J4.  &   by  Jnerntt  Oil  Co 
•   JRty  Fee  purchased  later 

T>re<s.J*rerr/tt  Oil  Co. 

Courtesy  of  the  Fuel  Oil  Journal. 

The  early  drillers  did  not  understand  this  and  thought  that 
it  was  necessary  always  to  drill  in  the  valleys.  They  also  had 
many  other  peculiar  notions  regarding  the  best  places  to  drill. 
Very  few,  if  any  of  these  notions,  were  based  on  actual  facts. 
Some  would  depend  on  people  who  claimed  special  ability  to 
detect  oil  by  the  means  of  twigs  or  by  second  sight.  Others 
would  always  drill  in  a  certain  direction  from  a  well  which  was 


ORIGIN  AND  OCCURRENCE 


already  producing  oil,  as  they  believed  that  the  "veins"  of  oil 
all  ran  in  the  same  direction.  Or,  perhaps,  they  might  select  a 
place  on  account  of  some  special  character  of  the  soil  or  vege- 
tation, not  considering  the  fact  that  conditions  several  hun- 
dred feet  below  the  surface  would  probably  be  entirely  differ- 
ent in  the  two  places. 

Since  the  anticline  theory  has  been  proved  correct,  it  is  pos- 
sible to  select  sites  for  wells  much  more  intelligently.  The 
anticline  may  be  in  the  form  of  a  dome  underlying  only  a  few 
square  miles  of  surface,  or  it  may  take  the  form  of  a  long  fold, 
perhaps  only  a  mile  or  two  wide,  but  many  miles  in  length.  Of 
course,  these  domes  or  folds  are  not  perfectly  uniform  and  they 
are  often  crossed  by  other  smaller  folds  at  other  angles  so  that 
even  though  a  well  may  be  drilled  over  an  anticline,  it  may  not 
strike  oil. 


*  Show  Of  Oil  \AltCf  2O /9I5 

*  JDri/  hote 

o  Location        ) 


free, 
oil  Co. 


Courtesy  of  the  Fuel  Oil  Journal 


The  two  illustrations  of  a  portion  of  the  Boynton  field  in 
Oklahoma  before  and  after  development,  give  a  very  good  ex- 
ample of  what  can  be  done  by  geologists  at  the  present  time 
toward  locating  a  profitable  territory.  The  oval  on  these  two 
diagrams  represents  the  outside  limit  where  it  would  be  possible 
to  secure  oil,  according  to  the  geologists'  theory  before  any 
wells  had  been  drilled.  The  second  diagram  shows  how  nearly 


PETROLEUM 


correct  he  was.  Of  course,  not  every  well  was  profitable,  but 
the  majority  of  those  within  this  territory  produced  oil  or  gas, 
while  practically  all  of  those  outside  of  the  territory  are  fail- 
ures. In  spite  of  geology,  it  is  still  very  common,  whenever 
one  well  strikes  oil,  for  others  to  rush  in  and  lease  any  prop- 
erty possible  within  several  miles  and  immediately  commence 
to  drill.  This  "wild  catting"  generally  means  a  dry  well  but  oc- 
casionally oil  will  be  found  where  its  presence  had  not  been 
suspected  before.  Other  wells  will  immediately  be  drilled 
around  this  one,  and  after  a  few  have  been  finished,  the  geolo- 
gist can  mark  out  very  definitely  what  should  be  profitable  ter- 
ritory. 

The  diagram  shown  on  page  4,  of  course,  represents  only  a 
typical  anticline.  In  many  cases  there  is  no  salt  water  below 
the  oil.  In  other  cases  there  will  be  no  gas  in  any  part  of  a 
pool,  although  this  is  not  often  true.  When  the  wells  are  first 
drilled,  the  pressure  of  the  gas  is  sometimes  tremendous, 
amounting  to  several  hundred  and  even  a  thousand  pounds  per 
square  inch,  a  pressure  sufficient  to  blow  all  the  tools  and  some- 
times the  casing  also,  out  of  the  hole.  This  gas  pressure  also 
produces  the  pressure  in  the  oil  wells,  causing  them  to  flow  more 
or  less  violently  and  very  frequently  a  well  which  first  produces 
gas,  later  produces  oil,  and  finally  after  the  oil  is  exhausted, 
may  yield  only  brine.  The  appearance  of  brine  in  wells,  gen- 
erally indicates  an  early  exhaustion  of  the  field. 

There  have  been  a  number  of  theories  as  to  the  cause  of  this 
tremendous  pressure.  In  some  fields,  at  any  rate,  it  seems  prob- 
able that  the  pressure  is  merely  artesian,  being  due  to  the  head 
of  water  which  has  penetrated  the  porous  rock  from  some  high- 
er point.  It  has  been  discovered  in  Ohio  and  Indiana  that  the 
brine  will  rise  in  an  exhausted  well  to  practically  the  same  level 
as  that  of  the  water  in  the  Great  Lakes,  where  the  same  lime- 
stone, in  which  the  oil  occurs,  out-crops  just  below  water  level. 
Of  course,  the  water  in  flowing  through  the  earth,  takes  up  salt 
and  other  soluble  matter  and  thus  becomes  a  strong  brine. 
However,  in  general,  the  pressure  is  much  stronger  than  could 
be  produced  by  this  cause,  and  it  seems  more  likely  that  both 
the  oil  and  water  are  confined  so  that  they  cannot  escape,  while 
the  gas  is  produced  by  decomposition  of  the  oil  and  thus  ac- 
cumulates under  tremendous  pressure,  and  wherever  the  well  is 
drilled,  either  gas,  oil,  or  water,  according  to  which  is  struck 
first,  will  be  driven  out  under  the  full  gas  pressure.  As  the 
flow  continues,  the  pressure  will  gradually  decrease  until  in 
time  the  flow  will  cease. 

At  first  it  was  believed  that  the  oil  and  gas  were  being  con- 
stantly formed  so  that  the  supply  would  be  indefinite.  On 
the  contrary,  every  field  has  proved  that  the  supply  is  limited 
and  although  there  may  be  parts  of  the  world  where  petroleum 
and  gas  are  now  being  formed,  these  parts  evidently  are  not  lo- 


ORIGIN  AND  OCCURRENCE  9 

cated  in  the  fields  which  are  being  drilled  and  it  is  only  a  mat- 
ter of  time,  in  some  cases  a  year  or  so,  in  others  a  quarter  of  a 
century,  before  this  supply  is  completely  exhausted  and  a  field 
must  be  abondoned. 

Chemically  crude  petroleum  consists  chiefly  of  compounds 
of  carbon  and  hydrogen,  known  as  hydro-carbons.  Penn- 
sylvania crude  oils  are  nearly  pure  hydro-carbons.  Ohio  crudes 
contain  compounds  of  carbon,  hydrogen  and  sulphur,  in  addi- 
tion to  the  pure  hydro-carbons.  California  crude  oils  contain 
some  hydro-carbons  of  a  different  series,  the  same  as  some  of 
those  which  are  produced  by  distilling  coal  tar.  In  addition, 
they  contain  various  compounds  of  carbon,  hydrogen  and  nitro- 
gen, with  or  without  oxygen.  Russian  crude  oils  consist  large- 
ly of  the  coal  tar  series  of  hydro-carbons. 

Petroleum  occurs  very  widely  distributed  throughout  the 
whole  world.  In  1913  the  United  States  alone  produced  over 
248,000,000  barrels,  or  over  65%  out  of  a  total  production  for 
the  entire  world  of  over  381,000,000  barrels.  The  other  coun- 
tries credited  with  production  were  in  order  as  follows :  Rus- 
sia, Mexico,  Roumania,  Dutch  East  Indies,  Galicia,  India 
Japan,  Peru,  Germany,  Canada  and  Italy,  with  a  half  million 
barrels  credited  to  "other  countries." 

In  the  United  States,  we  find  California  in  the  lead,  produc- 
ing about  40%  of  the  entire  amount  produced  by  the  country. 
Then  follow  in  order,— 

Oklahoma,  Illinois,  Texas,  Louisiana,  West  Virginia,  Ohio, 
Pennsylvania,  Wyoming,  Indiana,  Kansas,  New  York,  Ken- 
tucky, Colorado  and  "other  states,"  producing  only  .004%  of 
the  entire  amount. 

However,  there  is  scarcely  a  state  in  the  Union  where  indica- 
tions of  petroleum  have  not  been  found  and  it  is  entirely  pos- 
sible that  a  few  years  may  entirely  change  the  rank  of  the  states 
in  petroleum  production. 

Pennsylvania  and  New  York  held  the  lead  until  1895,  when 
Ohio  was  first  and  remained  so  until  1903,  when  California 
came  to  the  front,  only  to  lose  first  place  to  Oklahoma  in  1907. 
But  California  came  back  strong  in  1909  and  has  ever  since 
been  the  greatest  producing  state  in  the  nation,  producing  more 
petroleum  in  1913  than  the  entire  country  had  produced  in  any 
year  previous  to  1903.  In  fact,  California  alone  in  1913,  pro- 
duced more  petroleum  than  Russia  and  Mexico  together,  al- 
though they  are  the  second  and  third  greatest  petroleum  produc- 
ing countries  in  the  world. 


CHAPTER  II. 
HISTORY  OF  PETROLEUM. 

Probably  the  oldest  reference  to  a  petroleum  product  is  that 
in  Genesis  IX,  3,  where  we  learn  that  "slime"  was  used  for 
mortar  in  building  the  tower  of  Babel — this  "slime"  was  evi- 
dently a  bitumen  or  asphalt  naturally  produced  from  petro- 
leum and  occurring  in  those  regions.  A  number  of  other  ref- 
erences are  also  found  in  the  Bible,  while  a  number  of  Greek 
historians  also  mention  bitumen.  Herodotus  describes  a  well 
which  yielded  petroleum  and  water,  while  Strabo,  Pliny,  and 
others  mention  its  use  as  an  illuminant.  Natural  gas  was  used 
as  a  fuel  and  illuminant  in  China,  long  before  the  Christian 
era. 

The  Apsheron  Penninsula  on  the  Caspian  Sea  in  Russia,  prob- 
ably gave  more  natural  indications  of  petroleum  than  any 
spot  in  the  world.  This  field  has  been  worked  for  an  unknown 
length  of  time  and  oil  was  already  being  exported  in  the  tenth 
century.  Marco  Polo  describes  a  large  fountain  of  oil  here  and 

"  mentions  that  people  came  for  great  distances  to  get  the  oil 
which  they  used  for  fuel  and  as  an  ointment  for  camels  which 

^  had  the  mange.    It  was  in  this  vicinity  that  the  fire- worshippers 

'  held  sway  for  centuries.    Temples  were  built  and  lighted  by  the 
"Eternal  fires"  from  natural  gas  escaping  from  the  ground. 

Hanway,  writing  in  the  middle  of  the  18th  century  says  that, 
by  removing  a  little  of  the  surface  soil  and  applying  a  flame  to 
the  exposed  surface,  the  ground  would  catch  fire  and  burn  for 
a  long  time.  When  a  tube  was  thrust  into  the  ground  the  gas 
could  be  lighted  at  its  upper  end  and  this  property  was  utilized 
by  the  natives  in  lighting  their  homes,  also  for  cooking.  He 
also  mentions  the  transportation  of  petroleum  in  bulk  on  the 
Caspian  Sea.  One  variety  was  used  medicinally,  both  internal- 
ly and  externally  and  was  also  used  for  removing  spots  from 
woolen  goods. 

All  of  the  early  wells  were  hand-dug  pits  and  it  was  not  until 
some  time  after  wells  were  drilled  for  oil  in  large  numbers  in 

„  the  United  States,  that  the  Russian  oil  was  produced  in  notable 
quantities. 

In  Galicia  a  form  of  petroleum  known  as  "earth  balsam"  was 
known  as  far  back  as  1506.  In  the  early  part  of  the  19th  cen- 
tury small  amounts  of  petroleum  were  refined  for  illuminating 

10 


HISTORICAL 


purposes  and  by  1853  it  was  replacing  candles  in  Vienna.  This 
distillate  was  purified  by  treating  with  sulphuric  acid  and  caus- 
tic soda  in  a  manner  similar  to  that  used  in  modern  refineries. 
"  The  earliest  mention  of  petroleum  in  the  U.  S.  A.  is  found  in 
a  letter  written  by  a  Frenchman/  dated  1629,  in  which  he  refers 
to  the  oil-springs  in  what  is  now  New  York  State.  In  the  early 
part  of  the  18th  century  petroleum,  obtained  near  Lake  Seneca, 
New  York,  was  known  as  "Seneca  Oil"  on  account  of  its  use 
by  the  Indian  tribe  of  that  name.  It  oozed  up  with  water  in 
springs  and  was  skimmed  off  the  surface  by  means  of  broad 
wooden  paddles.  It  was  then  refined  by  heating  and  straining 
and  used  as  a  remedy  for  rheumatism,  burns,  coughs,  strains, 
etc.,  "for  man  or  beast." 

Petroleum  was  obtained  quite  extensively  in  drilling  for 
brine  on  the  banks  of  the  Kanawha  River,  West  Virginia.  In 
some  cases  it  was  such  a  nuisance  that  the  wells  had  to  be  aban- 
doned. The  bottled  oil  sold  for  medicinal  purposes  at  40  or  50 
cents  for  a  few  ounces. 

The  first  rock-bored  brine-well  was  sunk  in  1806  and  this 
method  was  soon  used  for  other  brine-wells,  some  of  which 
proved  to  be  flowing  wells  yielding  several  barrels  daily  of  oil, 
and  in  one  case  "many  thousands  of  gallons1  per  day."  The 
latter  well  yielded  for  thirty  years  and  the  oil  was  sold  as  "The 
American  Medicinal  Oil,  Burkesville,  Ky."  Much  of  the  oil 
from  these  wells  was  turned  into  the  rivers  and  became  a 
menace  to  those  down-stream. 

In  some  parts  of  the  country  efforts  had  been  made  to  utilize 
crude  petroleum  as  an  illuminant,  but  the  smoke  and  odor- 
were  so  bad  that  it  could  not  be  used  for  household  purposes. 
About  1832  the  manufacture  of  illuminating  oils  from  coal  and 
shale  was  commenced  in  France.  In.  1846  Abraham  Gesner 
commenced  the  manufacture  of  such  rf"  product  in  Prince  Ed- 
ward Island  and  commenced  selling  it  in  the  U.  S.  under  the 
name  of  "kerosene."  Refineries  for  its  manufacture  were  soon 
established  in  this  country.  At  first  they  used  the  coal  from 
Prince  Edward  Island,  but  soon  commenced  to  use  domestic 
shale  and  coal.  The  use  of  the  product  increased  until  there 
were  50  or  60  of  these  refineries  scattered  from  Portland,  Maine, 
to  St.  Louis. 

About  the  year  1849,  S.  M.  Kier,  a  Pittsburgh  druggist,  com- 
menced selling  the  oil  from  the  salt  wells  in  small  bottles  la- 
beled as  follows: 

KIER'S 

PETROLEUM  OR  ROCK  OIL, 
Celebrated  for  its  wonderful  curing  power. 

A  NATURAL  MEDICINE. 

Pumped  from  a  well  in  Allegheny  county, 

Pennsylvania,  400  feet  below  the 

surface  of  the  ground. 


12  PETROLEUM 


The  sale  of  the  product  was  pushed  by  various  means,  in  a 
manner  very  similar  to  that  used  by  patent  medicines  at  the 
present  day,  until  it  reached  three  barrels  per  day.  But  the 
taste  and  odor  were  so  disagreeable  that  this  outlet  for  the  oil 
did  not  take  care  of  the  supply.  Kier  then  attempted  to  sell  it 
as  an  illuminant,  but  had  very  little  success  since  the  oil  burned 
very  badly  and  had  such  a  disagreeable  odor. 

In  a  further  effort  to  develop  a  market,  Kier  tried  distillation, 
probably  following  the  practice  in  shale  oil  plants,  and  pro- 
duced an  oil  which  was  quite  satisfactory.  This  "Carbon  Oil" 
was  first  used  in  Pittsburgh  and  the  demand  soon  exceeded  the 
supply,  so  much  so  that  the  price  went  as  high  as  |2.00  per 
gallon. 

The  high  price  and  scarcity  of  the  oil  led  to  the  formation  of 
the  "Pennsylvania  Rock  Oil  Company"  with  a  capitalization 
of  |25,000.00.  This  Company  acquired  some  land  on  Oil  Creek. 
Venango  County,  Penu.  This  site  was  selected  because  oil 
springs  had  been  known  here  for  a  long  time.  Great  difficulty 
was  experienced  in  selling  the  stock,  for  fraudulent  companies 
were  common  then  as  now,  and  money  was  scarce.  Finally  the 
company  was  reorganized  Avith  a  capitalization  of  $300,000.00. 
This  company,  too,  found  that  the  springs  did  not  yield  a  suffi- 
cient supply  of  oil,  so  it  was  finally  decided  to  drill  a  well  in 
order  to  secure  a  more  abundant  supply.  The  company  secured 
a  railroad  conductor,  Edwin  L.  Drake,  to  manage  the  work, 
giving  him  the  title  of  "Colonel." 

|  Repeated  attempts  were  made  to  dig  down  to  rock  in  order 
to  start  drilling  but  the  soil  caved  so  badly  that  this  could  not 
be  accomplished.  As  a  last  resort  an  iron  pipe  was  driven  50 
feet  to  bed-rock  and  the  boring  and  drilling  tools  were  operated 
inside  of  this  pipe  without  special  difficulty.  Progress  was 
slow, — only  two  or  three  feet  per  day.  But  on  returning  to 
work  the  next  morning  after  reaching  a  depth  of  69  feet,  the 
well  was  found  nearly  full  of  oil,  August  29th,  1859. 

Thus  was  completed  the  first  well  ever  drilled  in  the  United 
States  for  oil.  At  first  the  well  yielded  25  barrels  per  day,  but 
by  the  close  of  the  year  had  dropped  to  15  barrels  and  the  total 
yield  for  the  year  was  about  2,000  barrels. 

As  soon  as  the  news  of  this  wonderful  discovery  of  petroleum 
spread,  people  came  in  great  numbers  out  of  curiosity,  to  see  it 
for  themselves.  Within  a  very  short  time  all  the  surrounding 
land  was  taken  up,  either  by  purchase  or  lease  and  many  other 
wells  were  started.  As  no  one  had  any  idea  where  oil  might 
be  found,  and  everyone  felt  that  if  they  were  lucky  they  could 
make  a  fortune  in  a  few  days,  many  sacrificed  everything  in 
order  to  secure  a  lease  on  even  the  smallest  piece  of  property 
and  associations  of  those  who  could  not  raise  enough  capital 
alone  were  formed  to  put  in  wells  even  when  most  exorbitant 


HISTORICAL  13 


royalties  were  demanded.  In  many  cases  they  were  not  able 
to  afford  the  necessary  machinery  and  the  wells  were  drilled  by 
means  of  spring  poles  or  other  primitive  methods.  Of  course, 
only  shallow  wells  could  be  drilled  by  these  means,  so  that  a 
great  many  were  unable  to  reach  oil  and  lost  everything  they 
had  invested. 

On  the  other  hand,  wages  were  high  and  many  a  man  who 
started  as  a  day  laborer,  by  good  fortune  soon  found  himself  a 
rich  man.  Within  two  years'  time  an  enormous  number  of 
wells  had  been  drilled  extending  up  and  down  the  Valley  of 
Oil  Creek  for  about  10  miles,  and  Oil  City  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Creek,  where  it  entered  the  Allegheny  Eiver,  boasted  a  popula- 
tion of  about  10,000  people.  Extremely  high  prices  were  paid 
for  land  and  leases,  as  at  first  it  was  thought  necessary  to  be 
close  to  the  original  wells.  In  one  instance,  two  acres  were 
sold  for  half  a  million  dollars.  In  another  case,  |4,000,000.00 
was  refused  for  a  50-acre  farm. 

For  the  first  two  or  three  years,  all  the  wells  put  down  were 
comparatively  shallow  and  produced  only  a  few  barrels  of  oil 
per  day.  None  of  them  were  flowing  wells.  However,  in  June, 
1861,  the  first  flowing  wrell  was  secured  at  a  depth  of  460  feet. 
This  well  yielded  300  barrels  per  day.  Soon  after  another  one 
was  drilled  which  yielded  2,500  barrels  per  day  and  in  1863 
a  well  was  brought  in  which  yielded  3,000  barrels  per  day.  It 
is  estimated  that  this  well  produced  $3,000,000.00  worth  of  oil. 

This  sudden  and  tremendous  increase  in  production,  lowered 
prices  very  rapidly.  The  first  oil  had  brought  as  high  as  f  1.00 
per  gallon.  Soon  the  price  dropped  to  lOc  per  barrel  and  even 
less,  but  in  1861  several  refineries  were  started  along  Oil  Creek 
and  soon  the  shale  oil  refineries  changed  over  to  petroleum 
refineries,  since  they  found  otherwise  they  would  be  forced  out 
of  business. 

The  first  shipment  to  Europe  consisting  of  27,000  barrels, 
was  made  at  about  this  time.  Although  this  shipment  proved 
a  loss,  it  was  only  the  first  and  many  others  later  were  more 
profitable,  so  that  export  trade  was  soon  established. 
/*"  On  account  of  low  prices  and  hard  times,  excitement  soon 
died  down  on  Oil  Creek  and  by  1865  the  production  had  greatly 
decreased.  Then  in  January,  1865,  the  first  well  was  finished 
on  Pit  Hole  Creek.  This  proved  to  be  a  flowing  well  and  a  new 
boom  was  started.  While  it  lasted,  there  was  as  much  excite- 
ment as  occurs  when  a  new  gold  field  is  discovered.  By  Sep- 
tember, Pit  Hole,  which  had  only  been  platted  in  March,  had  a 
population  of  12,000  or  15,000  people  and  town  lots  were  bring- 
ing as  high  as  f  10,000.00  each.  Fortunes  were  made  and  lost  so 
suddenly  that  speculation  rather  than  slow  profits  in  safe  busi- 
ness became  the  rule.  A  great  many  speculative  concerns  were 
organized  and  stock  put  on  the  market.  One  of  these  was  capi- 
talized at  15,000,000.00,  divided  into  1,000,000  shares.  In  most 
cases  the  stock  was  sold  at  only  a  fraction  of  its  value  in  order 


14  PETROLEUM 


to  secure  a  little  money  and  enormous  dividends  were  promised 
even  though  the  Company  did  not  own  any  land  which  had 
proved  to  be  oil  bearing  property. 

The  fall  of  the  Pit  Hole  boom  was  almost  as  rapid  as  its  rise. 
Within  two  years  the  town  was  almost  deserted.  This  was 
caused  by  the  rapid  decrease  in  production  of  the  wells  together 
with  hard  times,  low  prices  and  a  number  of  disastrous  fires. 
All  of  these  results  combined  resulted  in  the  failure  of  most  of 
the  speculative  companies  and  by  1868  the  oil  producing  busi- 
ness had  reached  a  very  low  stage. 

No  better  example  of  the  usual  result  can  be  given  than  the 
fact  that  Drake  who  produced  the  first  well,  after  accumulating 
quite  a  sum  of  money  went  to  New  York  City  and  lost  it  all  in 
speculating  on  petroleum  stock,  so  that  he  became  practically 
a  pauper.  His  friends  then  took  up  a  collection  of  several  thou- 
sands of  dollars  to  help  him  out  and  the  State  of  Pennsylvania 


£ 


Courtesy  of  the  National  Petroleum  News. 

A  Set  of  1,000  Barrel  Crude  Oil  Stills  and  Condensers. 

gave  him  a  pension  of  $1,500.00  per  year.  This,  however,  was 
the  only  permanent  benefit  he  obtained  and  this  was  the  case 
with  very  many  others,  for  a  man  who  had  once  struck  oil  was 
very  seldom  willing  to  stop  there,  but  had  to  try  again  and  again 
until  he  had  lost  all  he  had  made. 

However,  the  demand  for  petroleum  at  home  and  abroad  rap- 
idly increased  and  with  better  means  of  transportation  and 
refining  conditions  rapidly  improved  and  production  was  con- 
stantly increased  until  the  Pennsylvania  field  reached  a  maxi- 
mum in  1891  of  33,000,000  barrels,  this  being  3/5  of  the  entire 
production  of  the  United  States  for  that  year. 

The  next  field  to  be  developed  was  Ohio,  which  first  appears 
in  statistics  in  1876  and  reached  its  maximum  production  of 
about  24,000,000  barrels  in  1896.  West  Virginia  commencing 
with  the  same  year,  reached  a  maximum  of  16,000,000  barrels 
in  1900.  Indiana  commencing  in  1889  reached  a  maximum  of 


HISTORICAL  15 


11,000,000  barrels  in  1904.  Kentucky  commencing  in  1883 
reached  its  maximum  of  one  and  one-quarter  million  barrels  in 
1905.  Texas  commencing  in  1896  reached  a  production  of  28,- 
000,000  barrels  in  1905,  but  in  1906  the  production  was  only 
12,000,000  and  dropped  still  lower,  although  at  the  present  time 
it  is  increasing  again.  Illinois  commencing  production  in  1905 
reached  its  maximum  of  33,000,000  barrels  in  1910.  It  will  be 
noted  that  all  of  these  fields  have  passed  their  maximum  pro- 
duction and  most  of  them  are  falling  off  rapidly,  Pennsylvania 
producing  less  than  one-quarter  of  its  maximum,  in  1913. 

On  the  other  hand,  California  which  commenced  to  produce 
in  1876  had  reached  98,000,000  barrels  in  1913  and  the  1914 
production  was  estimated  to  be  104,000,000  barrels.  Oklahoma 
commencing  production  in  1900,  reached  63%  million  in  1913 
with  a  still  larger  production  in  1914.  The  only  other  produc- 
ing states  of  any  importance  are  Louisiana,  which  commencing 
in  1902  reached  12%  million  in  1913  and  Wyoming  which  com- 
mencing in  1894,  reached  2%  million  in  1913 

Undoubtedly  some,  if  not  all,  of  the  latter  states  will  yield 
even  larger  amounts  in  the  future  but  there  is  no  question  that 
within  a  few  years  time  their  production  will  begin  to  decline 
unless  new  fields  are  discovered.  New  pools  are  being  con- 
stantly opened  up  but  in  many  cases  their  production  is  not 
sufficient  to  offset  the  decrease  in  production  of  the  older  wells 
and  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  in  the  latter  part  of  1914  and 
early  part  of  1915,  production  was  greatly  stimulated  by  the 
unusually  high  market  price  for  crude  petroleum  and  every 
effort  possible  was  made  to  increase  production  in  order  to  take 
advantage  of  this  high  price. 

The  United  States  has  furnished  practically  60%  of  the  en- 
tire amount  of  petroleum  produced  from  oil  fields  throughout 
the  whole  world.  Russia  ranks  second,  with  30%.  No  other 
country  has  produced  more  than  a  small  fraction  of  this 
amount.  The  total  production  of  the  United  States  for  1913 
alone  was  almost  one-quarter  billion  barrels  or  10%  billion 
gallons,  enough  to  fill  1  1/3  million  tank  cars  of  standard  size. 
This  amount  equals  the  total  production  of  the  United  States 
for  the  first  25  years  and  is  more  than  the  world's  entire  pro- 
duction in  1906. 

It  is  needless  to  say  that  this  rapid  increase  cannot  be  kept  up 
indefinitely  although  it  is  useless  to  attempt  to  state  how  long 
it  will  be  before  production  will  commence  to  decrease.  Every 
year  it  has  been  a  question  whether  the  country  would  produce 
as  much  as  the  year  before,  yet  the  estimated  increase  of  1914 
over  1913  was  double  that  of  1913  over  1912.  At  any  rate, 
we  are  rapidly  using  up  the  supply  of  a  valuable  resource, 
which  once  exhausted  can  never  be  replaced  and  it  is  certainly 
very  important  that  all  petroleum  products  should  be  used  so 
as  to  produce  the  best  possible  results  and  do  away  with  all 
possible  waste. 


CHAPTER  III. 


PRODUCTION  AND  TRANSPORTATION  OF  PETROLEUM. 

The  earliest  method  of  producing  petroleum,  as  mentioned 
before,  was  that  of  skimming  it  off  the  surface  of  water  where  it 
had  accumulated  from  springs.  In  China,  Japan  and  India, 
from  earliest  times  wells  have  been  dug  by  hand  for  petroleum. 
These  wells  have  reached  depths  as  great  as  900  feet,  although 
ordinarily  not  more  than  one  or  two  hundred  feet  deep.  It 
would  seem  that  the  cost  would  be  prohibitive,  but  in  the  east- 
ern countries  where  time  is  of  no  value  and  wages  extremely 
low,  the  cost  of  such  wells  is  not  very  great.  Even  in  the  latter 
half  of  the  19th  century,  oil  was  still  secured  from  ancient  hand 
dug  wells  in  Burma. 

Not  even  a  windlass  was  used  for  raising  the  oil,  but  the  rope 
was  drawn  over  a  timber  at  the  top  of  the  well  and  2  or  3  men 
would  seize  it  and  run  over  to  one  side  far  enough  to  bring  up 
the  jar  of  oil.  By  this  primitive  method  a  few  gallons  of  oil  per 
day  would  be  secured  from  each  well.  Undoubtedly  the  same 
method  was  used  for  raising  the  earth  when  the  wells  were 
dug.  When  rock  was  struck  which  was  too  hard  for  digging,  a 
large  angular  lump  of  iron  would  be  suspended  at  the  mouth 
of  the  well  by  a  rope.  The  rope  would  be  cut  and  the  fall  of  the 
iron  would  crush  a  little  of  the  rock  in  the  bottom  of  the  well. 
Then  a  man  would  climb  down,  attach  the  rope  again,  the  iron 
would  be  raised  and  this  method  repeated  indefinitely.  All  of 
this  was  accomplished  where  the  vapor  of  oil  was  so  strong  that 
a  man  could  work  only  a  few  minutes  at  a  time. 

In  China,  (Jiailiijg  was  early  developed.  This  method  was 
used  particularly  in  securing  brine  and  is  really  very  similar 
to  the  American  method  of  drilling  oil  wells,  showing  again 
that  there  is  nothing  new  under  the  sun.  The  Chinese  would 
dig  down  by  hand  until  they  struck  rock  and  case  the  hole  with 
bamboo  tubing.  Then  they  would  arrange  a  heavy  plank  pivot- 
ed at  the  center  and  supported  so  that  one  end  was  directly  over 
the  opening.  To  this  end  would  be  attached  a  cable  which  sup- 
ported the  heavy  drilling  tools.  Small  platforms  were  arranged 
at  each  side  of  the  plank  and  for  each  stroke,  a  man  would 
jump  from  one  of  the  platforms  onto  the  end  of  the  plank  and 
back  again.  Sometimes  two  men  would  jump  together,  then 

16 


PRODUCTION  AND  TRANSPORTATION  17 

two  from  the  other  side.  By  means  of  this  primitive  walking- 
beam,  wells  were  put  down  to  considerable  depths  and  it  will 
be  noted  that  the  modern  method  simply  substitutes  the  steam 
engine  for  man  power.  Otherwise  we  have  only  improved  the 
scheme  by  making  everything  heavier,  larger  and  stronger. 

The  first  drilleiwell  of  which  we  have  record  in  this  country, 
was  put  down  a  little  over  one  hundred  years  ago  in  order  to 
secure  brine.  This  was  drilled  with  a  spring  pole,  a  flexible 
sapling  about  50  feet  long,  inclined  at  an  angle  of  30°  so  that 
the  top  was  just  over  the  well.  The  drill  was  attached  to  a  rope 
which  was  attached  to  the  end  of  the  spring  pole.  By  pulling 
on  this  rope  the  necessary  motion  was  given  to  the  drill.  Be- 
fore drilling,  a  hollow  tree  trunk  was  sunk  through  the  quick- 
sand to  bed  rock  and  by  means  of  thin  wedges  the  surface  water 
was  cut  off  so  that  it  would  not  flow  in  and  dilute  the  brine. 
When  the  well  was  finished  it  was  cased  with  a  long  wooden 
tube  which  was  tightly  wrapped  at  the  bottom,  in  order  to  cut 
off  any  water  which  might  flow  through  the  rock  above  the  vein 
of  brine  wThich  it  was  desired  to  reach.  This  crude  outfit  em- 
bodied most  of  the  principles  used  later  in  drilling  for  oil.  A 
great  many  of  the  early  oil  wells  were  put  down  with  spring- 
poles,  others  by  the  method  known  as  "kicking  down,77  which 
was  very  similar  to  the  Chinese  method  referred  to  above  ex- 
cept that  the  walking  beam  was  weighted  sufficiently  to  raise 
the  drill  above  the  bottom  of  the  well.  A  stirrup  was  fastened 
to  the  cable  and  the  driller  imparted  the  necessary  motion  by 
kicking  down  with  his  foot  in  this  stirrup. 

Under  the  more  modern  system  of  drilling,  a  derrick  is  always 
used.  This  is  a  heavy  frame- work  which  was  formerly  built  of 
wood,  but  is  now  built  of  steel  and  is  very  similar  to  a  wind- 
mill towrer.  This  derrick  is  erected  over  the  spot  which  has 
been  selected  for  the  well.  It  is  generally  necessary  first  to  dig- 
down  a  few  feet  to  rock  or  to  a  firm  layer  of  soil.  This  opening- 
is  cased  with  a  wooden  conductor  somewhat  larger  than  the 
diameter  of  the  well  which  is  to  be  drilled  and  great  care  is 
taken  to  secure  a  close  joint  between  the  bottom  of  the  conduc- 
tor and  the  surface  of  the  rock.  When  the  surface  soil  is  too 
deep  to  admit  of  digging,  a  steel  shod  pipe  is  driven  down  some- 
times to  the  depth  of  200  or  300  feet.  When  the  rock  is  nearer 
the  surface  than  60  feet,  the  full  string  of  tools  can  not  be  used 
in  the  ordinary  way.  In  this  case,  a  special  outfit  called  "scujj- 
4in^tools"  is  used.  (See  Plate  If.  The  derrick  is  here  shown 
erected  and  the  spudding  tools  in  use).  The  cable  supporting 
the  tools  is  rolled  up  on  the  bull  wheel  (b)  and  just  enough  is 
let  out  so  that  the  spudding  tools  will  reach  the  bottom  of  the 
well.  Then  by  means  of  the  short  cable  (e)  connected  to  the 
crank  of  the  band  wheel  (c)  the  tools  are  lifted  and  dropped  so 
that  they  gradually  work  down  until  a  depth  is  reached  where 
the  regular  tools  can  be  used. 


18 


PETROLEUM 


Copyright  by  International  Text  Book  Co 

Diagram  of  Oil  Derrick 


Walking-beam 

Bull  Wheel 

Band  Wheel 

Cable  to  operate  Spudding  Tools 


Spudding  Tools 

Sand  Pump 

Sand  Pump  Line 

Sand  Pump  Reel 

Lever  which  controls  Sand  Pump  Ree 


PRODUCTION  AND  TRANSPORTATION  19 

The  regular  string  of  tools  consists  of  the  rope  socket  which 
is  attached  to  the  end  of  the  cable;  then  a  heavy  sinker  bar; 
then  the  jars,  which  are  like  a  long  flat  pair  of  chain  links,  al- 
lowing about  13  inches  play;  then  the  auger  stem  and  finally 
the  bit.  The  entire  string  is  about  60  feet  long  and  will  weigh 
about  a  ton.  When  the  tools  have  been  lowered  into  the  well, 
the  cable  (e)  is  disconnected  and  the  walking  beam  (a)  is  con- 
nected with  the  crank  of  the  band  wheel  (c ) .  The  cable  is  then 
lowered  just  enough  to  allow  a  little  slack  in  the  jars  and  at- 
tached to  the  end  of  the  walking  beam  by  means  of  a  clamp  with 
a  long  threaded  screw  known  as  the  "temper  screw."  Then 
a  few  feet  of  cable  are  slacked  off  from  the  bull  wheel  and  every- 
thing is  ready  to  commence  drilling.  Of  course,  the  power  is 
furnished  by  a  steam  engine  which  drives  the  band  wheel.  The 
boiler  is  located  at  a  considerable  distance,  in  order  to  mini- 
mize the  danger  of  fire. 

As  the  band  wheel  revolves,  the  walking-beam  goes  up  and 
down,  raising  and  lowering  the  tools.  It  is  usual  to  adjust 
the  cable  so  that  there  will  be  about  4  inches  rise  before  the 
jars  strike.  Then  the  tools  are  raised  about  20  inches  and 
dropped  again.  By  this  means  the  heavy  sinker  bar  gives  a 
strong  upward  stroke  to  loosen  the  drill,  instead  of  putting  all 
the  strain  on  the  cable.  This  is  the  object  of  the  jars.  The 
driller  constantly  walks  around  the  mouth  of  the  well, 
first  one  way  and  then  the  other,  in  order  to  rotate  the 
drill  by  means  of  a  lever  in  the  temper  screw,  and  thus 
produce  a  perfectly  round  hole.  He  also  lets  out  the  temper 
screw  from  time  to  time  as  drilling  progresses.  When  it  has 
been  run  out  nearly  to  the  top  of  the  well  or  when  the  progress 
becomes  slow,  showing  that  the  drill  is  dull,  the  cable  is  tight- 
ened up  on  the  bull  wheel,  the  temper  screw  is  disconnected, 
and  the  tools  are  drawn  up.  Then  the  sand  pump  (g)  is  raised 
by  means  of  the  line  (h)  and  the  sand  pump  reel  (i)  which  is 
operated  through  the  lever  (k).  The  sand  pump  consists  of  a 
hollow  tube  about  10  or  12  feet  long  with  a  valve  at  the  bottom. 
This  valve  has  a  projecting  plunger  which  is  pushed  up  as  soon 
as  it  strikes  the  bottom  of  the  well.  Then  the  pump  is  pulled 
up  and  let  down  on  the  dump  pile  when  the  plunger  again  rises, 
allowing  the  water  and  sand  to  flow  out.  If  the  well  is  dry,  a 
little  water  is  added  from  time  to  time  to  aid  in  the  removal 
of  sand.  While  the  sand  pump  is  being  used,  a  sharp  drill  is 
attached  to  the  tools  and  as  soon  as  the  sand  pump  has  been 
withdrawn,  the  tools  are  again  run  down  and  drilling  contin- 
ues. This  is  kept  up  day  and  night  without  interruption  unless 
an  accident  occurs. 

When  gas  begins  to  issue  from  the  well,  it  is  piped  to  the 
boiler  to  furnish  fuel.  In  many  cases,  oil  will  also  flow  out 
and  the  pipe  is  arranged  so  that  the  cable  runs  through  a  stuf- 
fing box  and  the  oil  flows  off  into  a  tank.  As  soon  as  the  well 


20  PETROLEUM 


has  reached  sufficient  depth  to  penetrate  the  last  water  bear- 
ing stratum,  the  tools  are  removed  and  the  hole  is  cased  with 
iron  pipe,  which  is  screwed  together  in  sections.  Formerly  it 
was  customary  to  fasten  a  buckskin  sack  full  of  flax  seed  near 
the  bottom  of  this  pipe.  When  this  was  forced  down  into  the 
hole,  the  water  soon  swelled  the  flax  seed  and  was  thus  effec- 
tually cut  off  from  entering  the  well.  At  present  it  is  generally 
customary  to  make  a  beveled  shoulder  in  the  rock  and  the  pipe 
is  beveled  to  fit  this.  Any  slight  leakage  will  soon  be  stopped 
by  the  sand  and  mud  which  the  water  carries.  The  drilling  can 
then  be  continued  with  only  the  necessary  amount  of  water. 
This  is  much  more  effective  since  the  tools  then  act  under  full 
weight  instead  of  being  buoyed  up  by  the  water.  The  rate  of 
drilling  depends  entirely  upon  the  condition  of  the  strata  to  be 
penetrated  and  varies  all  the  way  from  a  few  feet  to  two  or 
three  hundred  feet,  per  day.  One  well  at  Corsicana,  Texas,  was 
put  down  to  a  depth  of  1,000  feet  in  32  hours.  The  first  produc- 
tive well  in  the  Spindle  top  field,  Texas,  was  drilled  to  a  depth 
of  1,139  feet  in  75  days.  At  this  depth  the  pressure  of  the  oil 
was  so  great  as  to  blow  the  casing  out  of  the  well. 

In  deep  wells,  it  is  often  necessary  from  time  to  time  to  put 
in  another  string  of  casing,  which,  of  course,  must  be  small 
enough  to  fit  inside  of  the  casing  previously  set.  Sometimes 
several  different  sizes  are  used.  In  the  Russian  fields  the  strata 
are  so  broken  up  that  caving  is  very  apt  to  occur  and  only  com- 
paratively short  distances  can  be  drilled  before  a  casing  must 
be  inserted,  so  that  these  wells  are  often  started  with  a  diameter 
as  great  as  2  feet.  The  deepest  well  in  the  Spindletop  field  which 
reached  a  depth  of  4,720  feet,  was  commenced  Nov.  16th,  1914, 
and  finished  June  5th,  1915.  For  the  first  thousand  feet  a 
14%"  bit  was  used;  then  a  10"  casing  was  set.  For  the  next 
1,000  feet  a  9%"  bit  was  used,  when  an  8"  casing  was  set. 
Then  a  7%"  bit  for  1,370  feet  and  a  6"  casing  was  set.  The  well 
was  finished  with  a  5%"  bit.  Sometimes  it  is  necessary  to  re- 
duce the  size  of  the  casing  so  many  times  that  the  finished  well 
does  not  yield  very  rapidly,  since  the  final  casing  is  too  small. 

If  it  were  not  for  accidents  the  well  driller's  life  would  be 
quite  monotonous  but  at  any  time  a  drill  may  break  or  the 
cable  may  wear  out  and  the  whole  string  of  tools  and  cable  be 
left  in  the  hole.  It  is  cases  such  as  this  that  all  the  driller's 
ingenuity  is  called  upon.  There  are  a  great  number  of  so-called 
"fishing"  tools,  which  are  used  in  an  endeavor  to  remove  the 
cable  and  drill,  and  it  has  even  been  found  possible  to  cut  a 
new  thread  on  the  end  of  a  broken  drill  and  pull  it  out.  Some- 
times these  "fishing"  jobs  require  weeks,  and  occasionally  a 
wrell  must  actually  be  abandoned  on  this  account. 

The  cost  of  wells  increases  very  rapidly  with  the  depth.  The 
first  Pennsylvania  wells  cost  only  a  few  hundred  dollars,  but 
in  other  fields  where  deep  wells  are  necessary  and  drilling  is 


PRODUCTION  AND  TRANSPORTATION 


difficult,  the  cost  runs  up  rapidly.  The  deep  well  referred  to,  in 
the  Spindletop  field,  cost  from  $25,000.00  to  f30,000.00  and 
then  did  not  yield  any  oil.  Some  of  the  California  wells  cost 
even  more,  for  boring  is  very  difficult  there  and  it  may  take  a 
year  or  more  to  put  down  one  well.  In  Galicia  there  are  report- 
ed to  be  over  250  wells  over  4,000  feet  deep  and  one  is  5,400  feet 
or  a  little  over  a  mile. 

There  are  many  other  methods  of  drilling^ised  in_different 
fields.  Many  of  them  are  based  on  some  form  ^xF  rotary  drlfl- 
mg^This  is  the  same  in  principle  as  the  common  well  boring 
outfits  which  are  used  where  rock  is  not  encountered.  For  hard 
strata,  the  diamond  core  drill  may  be  used.  In  some  systems, 
a  continuous  stream  of  water  passes  down  through  the  hollow 
auger  stem  and  up  through  the  casing  so  that  the  sand  is  con- 
stantly washed  out  of  the  well.  This  method  is  especially  fa- 
vored where  the  strata  are  loose  and  caving  is  apt  to  occur,  for 
the  water  pressure  helps  a  great  deal  in  preventing  caving. 

When  it  is  known  that  the  drill  should  soon  strike  oil,  prepa- 
rations are  made  and  every  effort  is  used  to  close  or  cap  the  well 
at  once,  so  that  all  of  the  oil  may  be  saved.  However,  the  oil 
often  comes  in  with  a  tremendous  flow  which  is  sufficient  to 
throw  all  of  the  tools  and  even  sometimes  the  casing  out  of 
the  well.  Even  this  may  not  do  a  great  deal  of  harm  provided 
the  oil  does  not  catch  fire.  This  may  happen  and  then  it  is 
very  difficult  to  extinguish  the  fire  where  the  flow  of  oil  is  great. 
In  some  cases  it  has  been  necessary  to  tunnel  underground  on 
a  slant  for  over  100  feet  and  bore  into  the  pipe  by  means  of  a 
special  tool,  so  that  the  flow  of  oil  was  shut  off  and  diverted 
through  the  tunnel  away  from  the  fire.  In  some  cases  the  top 
of  the  pipe  is  shot  off  with  a  cannon  and  the  flame  is  thus  put 
out,  or  a  large  pipe  may  be  erected  over  the  opening  and  sud- 
denly jerked  away.  The  last  two  methods,  of  course,  apply  to 
gas  wells  and  can  be  very  easily  demonstrated  on  a  small  scale 
by  means  of  a  Bunsen  burner. 

In  1913  a  well  in  the  Caddo  field,  Louisiana,  gave  an  initial 
production  of  18,000  barrels  per  day.  One  in  the  Sunset  Mid- 
way field,  California,  finished  in  April,  1913,  was  a  20,000  bar- 
rel well.  One  well  in  Mexico  is  estimated  to  have  yielded  over 
30,000,000  barrels  during  its  flow.  However,  the  greatest  gush- 
ers ever  produced  were  some  of  those  in  Russia.  Probably  the 
most  famous  was  the  Droojba  Fountain  which  commenced  flow- 
ing at  a  rate  of  about  50,000  barrels  valued  at  over  |55,000.00 
daily.  This  had  all  the  appearance  of  a  geyser  in  action.  The 
oil  rose  in  a  solid  stream  18  inches  thick  to  a  height  of  from 
two  to  three  hundred  feet.  Enormous  amounts  of  sand  were 
brought  up  and  formed  a  mound  6  or  7  feet  high.  The  ail 
flowed  out  in  a  whole  series  of  lakes,  some  deep  enough  to  float 
a  boat  and  finally  ran  out  into  the  Caspian  Sea,  where  it  was 
wasted. 


22 


PETROLEUM 


An  even  more  remarkable  well  was  struck  at  a  depth  of  only 
714  feet  in  1886  and  was  described  as  follows : 

*"From  the  town  the  fountain  had  the  appearance  of  a  colos- 
sal pillar  of  smoke,  from  the  crest  of  which  clouds  of  oil-sand 
detached  themselves  and  floated  away  a  great  distance  without 
touching  the  ground.  Owing  to  the  prevalence  of  southerly 
winds,  the  oil  was  blowing  in  the  direction  of  Bailoff  Point,  cov- 
ering hill  and  dale  with  sand  and  oil  and  drenching  the  houses 
of  Bailoff,  a  mile  and  a  half  away.  *  *  *  The  whole  district 
of  Bibi-Eibat  was  covered  with  oil,  which  filled  up  the  cavities, 


Courtesy  of  the  National  Petroleum  News 

Big  Gusher  in  the  Caddo,  La.  Field. 


formed  a  lake,  and  on  the  fifth  day  began  flowing  into  the  sea. 
The  outflow  during  three  days  was  estimated  at  5,000  or  6,000 
tons  daily.  *  *  *  On  the  eighth  day  the  maximum  was  reached, 
the  oil  then  spouting  at  the  rate  of  11,000  tons,  or  2,750,000  gal- 
lons (65,000  bbls.)  a  day.  After  the  tenth  day  it  began  to  di- 
minish and  by  the  fifteenth  day  the  engineers  had  so  far  got  it 
under  control  that  the  outflow  was  only  250,000  gallons  a  day. 
Altogether  over  10,000,000  gallons  of  oil  came  to  the  surface, 
and  most  of  this  was  lost  for  want  of  storage  accommodation." 

*  Redwood's  Petroleum;  2nd  Edition,  pajre  8. 


PRODUCTION  AND  TRANSPORTATION 


23 


Even  larger  flows  than  this  have  been  recorded,  running  up 
a  maximum  of  190,000  barrels  per  day.  However,  such  enor- 
mous gushers  are  a  misfortune  rather  than  a  benefit  for  they 
frequently  cannot  be  controlled  and  a  great  deal  of  the  oil  goes 
to  waste.  Then  fires  are  very  apt  to  result  and  destroy  many  of 
the  surrounding  derricks  and  the  oil  which  is  in  storage.  A 


Courtesy  of  the  National  Petroleum  News 

Vendor  of  Oil  Cans  in  Constantinople. 


flowing  well  is  desirable  but  one  which  is  more  moderate  and 
can  be  controlled  is  of  more  value. 

In  contrast  with  these  wells,  we  find  that  in  the  Pennsylva- 
nia field  out  of  over  4,000  wells  drilled  in  1913,  over  500  were 
dry  wells  and  the  average  initial  yield  of  the  producing  wells 
was  only  2.6  barrels  per  day.  However,  as  we  go  on  to  the 
newer  fields,  the  average  yield  of  new  wells  increases,  Illinois 


24  PETROLEUM 


showing  an  average  of  35  barrels,  Oklahoma,  48  barrels, — the 
Gulf  Field,  312  barrels  and  Louisiana  475  barrels,  while  in 
California  wrells  yielding  anywhere  from  1  to  20,000  barrels 
per  day  are  not  at  all  uncommon.  In  California  alone  there 
are  nearly  7,000  producing  wells. 

It  is  generally  customary  to  drill  first  near  the  edge  of  the 
property  in  order  to  secure  as  much  oil  as  possible  before  those 
on  adjoining  property  put  down  wells.  On  account  of  this  de- 
sire to  increase  production,  more  wells  are  drilled  than  would 
be  really  necessary  to  remove  all  of  the  oil  within  a  reasonable 
length  of  time.  For  the  same  reason  the  oil  is  generally  al- 
lowed to  flow  or  is  pumped  from  the  wells  just  as  rapidly  as 
possible,  regardless  of  selling  price,  since  those  who  do  not  re- 
move the  oil  now,  may  find  very  little  left  if  they  allow  others 
to  get  ahead  of  them.  It  would  be  extremely  desirable  if  some 
means  could  be  arranged  so  that  wells  would  be  handled  in  a 
more  scientific  manner. 

No  matter  how  rapidly  a  well  may  flow  at  first,  as  the  press- 
ure decreases,  the  flow  ceases.  When  this  occurs  it  is  generally 
customary  to  torpedo  the  well.  This  is  done  by  means  of  nitro- 
glycerine which  is  put  up  in  long  tubes.  These  are  care  full}' 
lowered  into  the  well  one  above  the  other.  Sometimes  as  much 
as  200  quarts  of  nitroglycerine  are  used  for  one  charge.  A 
priming  cap  is  inserted  in  the  top  of  the  last  cylinder  and  the 
nitro-glyceriue  is  exploded  by  dropping  a  weight  called  the  "go 
devil."  When  the  explosion  occurs,  very  little  sound  is  heard 
but  within  a  few  minutes,  if  successful,  there  will  be  a  great 
rush  of  water  and  oil  which  may  rise  far  above  the  top  of  the 
derrick.  There  is  generally  time  between  the  explosion  and 
the  rise  of  the  oil  to  connect  the  well  with  a  tank,  so  that  the 
oil  may  be  saved.  Sometimes  a  well  is  torpedoed  three  or  four 
times  at  intervals,  with  less  effect  each  time.  Torpedoing  is 
also  frequently  tried  on  wells  which  would  otherwise  be  dry  and 
sometimes  they  yield  oil  after  this  treatment. 

But  whatever  means  may  be  adopted,  sooner  or  later  it  be- 
comes necessary  to  resort  to  pgujnjring.  This  is  done  by  means 
of  a  sucker-rod  which  fits  inside  tlie  casing  and  is  supplied 
with  several  cup-shaped  valves  of  leather  or  rubber.  The  weight 
of  the  oil  causes  these  to  fit  snugly  against  the  side  of  the  pipe 
on  the  up  stroke.  In  order  to  economize,  it  is  customary  to  con- 
nect several  wells  with  one  engine  by  means  of  a  pumping 
jack,  similar  to  that  often  used  on  farms  for  operating  pumps. 
In  some  cases,  as  man}7  as  15  wells  are  operated  by  one  engine 
and  the  rod  lines  connecting  the  engine  with  the  pump  may  be 
over  2,000  feet  long.  By  this  means,  wells  in  Pennsylvania 
which  yield  as  little  as  half  a  barrel  per  day,  can  be  pumped 
profitably  and  it  is  only  by  pumping  large  numbers  of  these 
small  wells  that  the  yield  of  Pennsylvania  oil  is  kept  up  to  the 
present  figure. 


PRODUCTION  AND  TRANSPORTATION  25 

When  a  well  no  longer  yields  oil,  it  is  customary  to  pull  out 
the  casing  for  use  in  a  new  well.  The  hole  is  then  plugged  up 
with  concrete  so  that  water  may  not  enter  the  oil  bearing  strata 
and  damage  other  wells. 

In  ancient  times,  earthenware  baskets  daubed  with  clay,  or 
earthenware  jars  were  used  for  t^p spotting  and  storing  oil. 
In  the  early  days  on  Oil  Creek,  wooden  barrels  were  used  en- 
tirely and  these  had  to  be  hauled  a  good  many  miles  to  the  near- 
est railway.  As  the  country  was  practically  unsettled,  there  were 
no  decent  roads  and  such  as  there  were  soon  became  almost 
impassable.  Then  a  great  many  boats  and  barges  were  built 
to  transport  the  oil  down  the  Creek  to  Oil  City  and  from  there 
down  the  Allegheny  River  to  Pittsburgh.  The  water  was  very 
shallow  in  Oil  Creek  and  at  many  times  of  the  year  was  not 
sufficient  to  float  the  barges.  Therefore,  it  became  customary 
to  arrange  with  the  mill  owners  to  open  their  dams  and  form  a 
small  freshet.  Sometimes  as  much  as  20,000  barrels  went  down 
the  Creek  on  a  single  freshet.  However,  jams  often  occurred 
and  many  boats  were  damaged  with  the  loss'of  a  great  deal  of 
oil.  At  one  time  at  least  1,000  boats  were  used  for  this  form 
of  transportation,  but  even  at  the  best  it  was  objectionable 
since  the  barrels  leaked  badly  and  the  loss  was  heavy.  Efforts 
were  made  to  carry  the  oil  in  bulk  in  open  barges,  but  these 
were  readily  capsized  and  the  scheme  did  not  prove  satisfac- 
tory until  the  barges  were  divided  into  compartments  and  cov- 
ered over. 

After  a  few  years  railroads  were  built  in  to  the  oil  fields.  At 
first  rail  shipments  were  made  in  wooden  tanks  fastened  on  an 
ordinary  flat  car.  From  this  evolved  the  modern  all  steel  tank 
car  holding  from  6,000  to  12,000  gallons.  However,  most  of  the 
oil  had  to  be  hauled  from  the  wells  to  the  railway  in  barrels 
and  this  hauling  often  cost  more  than  the  rail  freight. 

Various  parties  planned  to  put  in  pipeJines  and  in  1865  the 
first  successful  line  was  built  from  the  United  States  well  at 
Pit  Hole  to  the  railroad.  This  line,  which  was  5  miles  long, 
consisted  of  2"  pipe  and  had  three  pumping  stations.  The 
teamsters  greatly  objected  to  this  innovation  and  it  was  neces- 
sary to  station  armed  guards  to  protect  the  pipe  line.  Gradu- 
ally the  pipe  lines  were  increased  until  now  they  connect  nearly 
all  of  the  oil  fields  east  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  with  either  the 
Gulf  or  the  Atlantic  Coast  and  it  is  now  possible  to  pump  crude 
oil  from  the  Oklahoma  fields  direct  to  the  great  refineries  along 
the  Atlantic  Coast.  In  order  to  handle  oil  through  the  pipe 
lines,  it  is  necessary  to  have  large  storage  tanks  at  the  wells, 
where  the  oil  is  accumulated  until  the  pipe  line  is  ready  to  take 
it.  Where  the  pipe  lines  go  through  mountainous  districts,  it 
is  necessary  to  have  pumping  stations  at  frequent  intervals. 
It  is  by  this  means  that  practically  all  of  the  crude  oil  produced 


26 


PETROLEUM 


in  the  United  States  is  transported  to  the  refineries.  From  the 
refinery  the  product  goes  out  on  land  by  tank  cars, — on  water  in 
tank  steamers. 

It  was  not  until  about  1880  that  bulk  transportation  across 
the  ocean  really  became  successful,  but  now  large  numbers  of 
steamers  built  especially  for  this  purpose  are  constantly  en- 
gaged in  transporting  petroleum  and  its  products  to  all  parts 


m 


Courtesy  of  th 

Oil  Wells  in  a  Bayou,  Louisiana. 


National  Petroleum     News 


of  the  world.  However,  for  distribution  in  uncivilized  countries 
which  lack  railroad  facilities,  kerosene  is  generally  exported 
in  boxed  cans  and  in  this  form  it  is  transported  over  mountains 
and  deserts  on  the  backs  of  men,  camels,  donkeys  or  elephants 
to  the  remotest  parts  of  the  world. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

TESTING  PETROLEUM  PRODUCTS. 

The  tests  commonly  made  on  petroleum  products  are  chiefly 
physical  and  actual  chemical  analysis  would  only  show  that 
carbon  and  hydrogen  were  present  in  certain  proportions  and 
possibly  small  percentages  of  sulphur,  nitrogen,  oxygen  and 
other  elements.  An  analysis  of  this  sort  would  be  of  no  value 
in  determining  the  quality  and  lubricating  properties  of  an  oil. 

The  color  of  a  lubricating  oil  is  ordinarily  stated  in  terms 
of  standard  colors  which  have  been  arbitrarily  selected.  Some- 
times these  standards  are  kept  as  actual  bottles  of  oil;  some- 
times as  colored  glasses.  The  latter  are  preferable,  since  most 
oils  will  change  in  color  in  time.  (To  give  an  idea  of  the  col- 
ors, No.  20  in  the  cabinet  is  No.  2  color.  No.  19  is  No.  3,  while 
No.  22  is  No.  5).  For  oils  prepared  from  the  same  source  and 
by  the  same  method,  for  equal  viscosities  the  lighter  col- 
ored oil  will  give  less  carbon  than  the  darker  colored  one.  It 
will  also  be  more  expensive  and  will  run  somewhat  lower  in 
viscosity  than  the  darker  oil,  from  which  it  was  made,  for  filter- 
ing removes  viscosity  as  well  as  color. 

The  gravity  of  petroleum  products  is  generally  determined 
by  means  of  hydrometers,  which  consist  of  an  elongated  glass 
bulb  with  a  weight  at  the  bottom  and  a  slender  stem  at  the  top. 
This  stem  is  arbitrarily  divided  into  degrees  on  the  Baume 
scale.  This  scale  commences  at  10,  for  liquids  as  heavy  as 
water  and  goes  up  as  the  liquid  is  lighter.  Of  course,  the  lighter 
the  liquid,  the  further  the  hydrometer  sinks  into  it,  so  the  higher 
figures  are  toward  the  top.  As  the  gravity  of  oils  is  nearly 
always  referred  to  in  terms  of  the  Baume  scale,  it  is  for  this 
reason  that  heavy  oils  are  spoken  of  as  low  gravity  oils  and 
light  products  as  high  gravity  products,  although,  of  course, 
in  actual  specific  gravity,  those  showing  a  low  Baume  figure, 
run  higher  than  those  showing  a  high  Baume  gravity.  The 
specific  gravity  of  water  is  1,  which  is  represented  by  10  on  the 
Baume  scale.  The  specific  gravity  of  .75,  corresponds  to  57  on 
the  Baume  scale. 

For  accurate  work  it  is  necessary  to  correct  the  reading  of 
the  hydrometer  to  the  reading  which  would  be  shown  at  60°  F. 
Petroleum  products  expand  decidedly  on  heating.  The  aver- 
age amount  is  about  1%  for  every  20°  change  in  temperature, 

27 


28  PETROLEUM 


so  that  50  gallons  at  a  temperature  of  60°  would  measure  51 
gallons  at  a  temperature  of  100°  F.  For  the  same  reason,  the 
approximate  correction  to  the  hydrometer  reading  is  1°  Baurne 
for  every  10°  F.  The  neglect  to  use  this  correction,  very  often 
decidedly  misleads  those  who  have  a  small  hydrometer  and  feel 
that  they  can  tell  all  about  the  quality  of  the  goods  they  are 
purchasing  by  this  means. 

The  viscosity  of  an  oil,  as  commonly  referred  to,  is  a  meas- 
ure of  the  cohesion  of  the  molecules  to  one  another  and  the 
adhesion  of  the  oil  to  the  surface  of  the  container.  When  the 
user  refers  to  the  body  of  an  oil,  he  really  means  the  viscosity  in 
this  sense.  It  is  the  property  which  causes  an  oil  to  string  and 
drop  slowly  from  the  bottom  of  the  sample  bottle  when  it  is  in- 
verted, and  some  slight  notion  of  the  comparative  viscosity  can 
be  obtained  by  this  rough  method.  However,  viscosity  is  or- 
dinarily determined  by  noting  the  length  of  time  required  for 
a  definite  amount  of  oil  under  a  definite  head  to  flow  through 
an  opening  of  definite  size  at  a  definite  temperature.  There 
are  various  instruments  for  this  purpose,  but  either  the  Saybolt 
or  Tagliabue  viscosimeters  are  ordinarily  used.  It  is  customary 
to  use  a  temperature  of  70°  for  all  oils  except  steam  cylinder 
stocks.  These  are  tested  at  212°  F. 

In  the  case  of  the  Tagliabue  Viscosimeter,  the  actual  num- 
ber of  seconds  required  for  the  oil  to  run  through,  is  multiplied 
by  two  and  this  figure  represents  the  viscosity  of  the  oil.  (By 
referring  to  the  cabinet,  some  idea  of  comparative  viscosities 
can  be  obtained.  No.  16  is  of  about  110  viscosity ;  Nos.  18  and 
19,  about  210 ;  No.  22  about  300  and  No.  24  about  3,000,— all 
at  70°  F.,  while  Nos.  25  and  26  will  run  from  150  to  175  at 
212°  F.). 

The  Cold  Test  of  an  oil  is  determined  by  freezing  it  and  then 
stirring  with  a  thermometer  and  warming  it  up  until  the  point 
is  reached  where  it  will  just  commence  to  flow.  This  point  is 
somewhat  lower  than  the  temperature  at  which  the  oil  would 
flow  through  a  faucet  from  a  barrel,  but  yet  it  gives  a  compara- 
tive measure  of  the  amount  of  cold  oils  will  stand  and  still 
serve  as  lubricants. 

The  Flash  Test  is  determined  by  heating  the  oil,  using  a 
thermometer  to  determine  the  temperature.  When  the  point  is 
reached  where  a  small  flame  passed  over  the  surface  will  cause 
a  slight  puff  due  to  the  explosion  of  the  vapors  produced,  the 
temperature  shown  on  the  thermometer  is  known  as  the  flash 
point.  The  heating  is  continued  until  the  point  is  reached 
where  the  oil  will  catch  fire  and  continue  to  burn.  This  is 
known  as  the  fire  point.  Many  people  have  very  erroneous  ideas 
regarding  the  inflammability  of  petroleum  products.  Of  course, 
gasoline  and  benzine  are  inflammable  at  practically  any  ordi- 
nary temperature.  However,  a  lighted  match  thrown  into  kero- 


TESTING 


sene  will  be  extinguished.  In  fact,  it  would  prove  very  diffi- 
cult to  light  kerosene,  by  means  of  a  match,  when  exposed  in 
any  considerable  volume.  If  a  large  amount  of  kerosene  is 
suddenly  poured  on  a  small  fire,  it  will  put  it  out  just  as  water- 
would  do.  Lubricating  oils  have  fire  tests  of  from  400  to  500° 
F.,  while  steam  cylinder  stocks  may  have  fire  tests  up  to  700° 
F.,  meaning  that  they  must  be  raised  to  this  very  high  tempera- 
ture before  they  can  be  ignited.  Of  course,  the  condition  is 
changed  when  the  oils  are  distributed  over  the  surface  of  paper, 
cloth  or  wood.  Here  we  have  a  very  small  amount  of  the  prod- 
uct so  placed  that  the  heat  cannot  be  carried  away  when  a  match 
is  applied  and  combustion  takes  place  readily. 

Distillation  on  a  small  scale  is  an  important  test  when  ap- 
plied to  gasoline,  benzine  or  kerosene.  It  is  usually  carried 
out  in  a  small  glass  flask  to  which  a  thermometer  is  fitted.  The 
flask  is  connected  with  a  water  cooled  condenser  and  distilla- 
tion is  carried  out  on  a  small  scale,  very  much  as  it  is  on  the 
large  scale  in  a  refinery.  It  will  give  the  average  person  a 
rather  strange  feeling  at  first  to  step  into  a  laboratory  and 
learn  that  the  liquid  which  is  boiling  so  briskly  in  a  thin  glass 
flask,  is  gasoline,  and  to  note  that  the  chemist  seems  to  feel 
no  fear.  But  when  we  consider  that  a  vessel  completely  filled 
with  vapors  of  petroleum  products  will  extinguish  a  flame  just 
as  quickly  as  it  would  if  filled  with  carbon  dioxide  gas,  it  is 
easy  to  see  that  there  is  no  danger  of  an  explosion  connected 
with  the  process.  It  is  only  when  the  vapors  are  mixed  with  a 
large  excess  of  air  that  eombustiofi  assumes  explosive  violence 
and  it  is  the  kerosene  can  which  is  practically  empty  and  which 
has  been  allowed  to  stand  near  the  stove  so  that  vapors  have 
formed,  which  usually  produces  the  terrible  accidents  so  com- 
monly reported.  On  general  principles,  no  one  but  an  expert 
should  ever  undertake  to  handle  such  products  near  a  flame. 
Nine  times  out  of  ten  or  perhaps  99  times  out  of  100,  there  will 
be  no  accident,  but  with  circumstances  slightly  altered,  trou- 
ble may  occur. 

To  determine  the  amount  of  carbon  which  a  lubricating  oil 
will  give  in  an  automobile  or  gas  engine  cylinder,  a  weighed 
amount  of  oil  is  distilled  in  a  Aveighed  flask.  The  distillation 
is  carried  to  dryness,  so  that  only  coke  remains.  The  coke  is 
heated  red  hot  to  drive  off  all  oil,  and  then  weighed. 

In  testing  cylinder- stocks,  the  tar  test  is  frequently  referred 
to.  This  consists  in  mixing  5  parts  of  the  stock  with  95  parts 
of  high  gravity  gasoline.  The  mixture  is  allowed  to  stand  and 
any  products  insoluble  in  gasoline,  such  as  asphalt,  water  or 
dirt,  will  settle  out.  The  test  is  carried  out  in  a  graduated 
tube  so  that  the  percentage  can  be  stated  in  terms  of  volume. 


CHAPTER  V. 

REFINING  CRUDE  PETROLEUM. 

The  various  crude  oils  from  different  sources  have  very  differ- 
ent compositions.  A  method  that  is  very  satisfactory  for  re- 
fining one  grade  of  crude  oil,  has  to  be  decidedly  modified  to 
produce  good  results  with  another  grade.  However,  whatever 
process  is  used,  distillation  generally  comes  first.  This  is  car- 
ried out  in  horizontal  cylindrical  tanks  with  a  capacity  of 
about  600  barrels.  For  the  first  distillation,  these  "stills"  as 
they  are  called,  are  heated  by  fire.  Very  frequently  natural 
gas  or  gas  produced  during  the  refining  is  used  for  fuel.  At 
the  top  of  the  still  is  a  dome,  very  similar  to  that  on  an  ordinary 
steam  boiler.  From  this  an  outlet  pipe  passes  to  a  coil  of  pipe 
surrounded  by  cold  water.  This  coil  is  known  as  the  condenser. 
The  principle  is  exactly  the  same  as  that  adopted  in  steam  heat- 
ing. The  oil  is  boiled  in  the  still  just  as  water  is  boiled  in  the 
boiler.  The  vapors  of  oil  pass  through  the  condenser,  and  are 
condensed  to  a  liquid  just  as  the  steam  is  condensed  in  the 
heating  coils  or  radiators.  Near  the  end  of  the  coil  there  is  a 
U-shaped  trap  similar  to  that  used  in  plumbing.  The  con- 
denser is  fitted  with  a  small  vertical  pipe  just  above  the  trap. 
This  pipe  serves  to  carry  off  any  uncondensed  gases.  These  are 
generally  fed  to  the  burners  under  the  boiler  and  used  as  fuel. 

Just  beyond  the  trap  there  is  a  triangular  box  with  a  glass 
front  so  that  the  still-man  can  observe  the  rate  of  flow  and  the 
color  of  the  distillate.  There  is  also  a  valve  so  that  he  can 
draw  out  a  sample  at  any  time  in  order  to  determine  the  grav- 
ity. Beyond  this  "sight  box"  there  is  a  series  of  valves  con- 
nected with  pipes  leading  to  the  different  tanks.  As  the  distil- 
late changes  in  color  and  gravity,  the  still-man  cuts  off  from 
one  tank  and  turns  the  distillate  into  another,  in  accordance 
with  rules  which  have  been  set.  The  following  description  ap- 
plies to  the  distillation  and  refining  of  Pennsylvania  Crude  Oil, 
using  the  method  which  is  called  "running  to  cylinder  stock." 
This  is  the  process  which  is  used  on  the  highest  grade  of  crude 
oils. 

When  the  still  has  been  filled  about  three-quarters  full,  the 
fire  is  started.  At  first  gas  is  driven  out  which  cannot  be  con- 
densed unless  the  condenser  coil  is  surrounded  by  a  freezing 
mixture.  In  most  cases  this  gas  is  used  as  fuel.  At  the  same 

30 


REFINING  31 


time,  water  distills  off  if  any  is  present.  As  soon  as  the  oil  com- 
mences to  distill  regularly,  the  distillate  is  run  into  the  ben- 
zine tank.  In  some  cases  all  of  the  benzine  distillate  is  run  into 
one  tank.  In  other  cases  it  is  divided  into  two  cuts,  light  and 
heavy.  When  the  gravity  has  dropped  to  a  point  which  has 
been  determined  by  experiment,  the  distillate  is  switched  to 
the  kerosene  tank.  At  this  point  high  pressure  steam  is  gen- 
erally blown  into  the  oil  in  the  still  by  means  of  perforated 
pipes.  This  prevents  overheating  and  produces  a  sweeter  oil. 
The  kerosene  distillate  is  generally  divided  into-  two  or  three 
cuts.  The  next  fraction  is  the  gas  oil  distillate  which  of  course 
is  run  into  a  separate  tank.  Wax  distillate  follows  this  and  it- 
is  the  still-man's  effort  to  drive  out  all  of  the  paraffine  wax 
possible  in  this  distillate  in  order  that  there  may  be  as  little 
as  possible  in  the  residue  left  in  the  still.  This  residue  is  the 
source  of  cylinder  stock  to  be  used  in  the  manufacture  of  steam 
cylinder  oils.  Each  of  these  distillates  must  be  refined  by  ap- 
propriate processes  in  order  to  produce  satisfactory  products. 

The  benzine  distillate  is  pumped  into  a  still  similar  to  the 
crude  oil  still  except  that  it  is  heated  by  steam  instead  of  fire. 
Here  it  is  carefully  re-distilled,  being  divided  into  several  cuts, 
the  first  of  which  will  be  high  test  gasoline  of  about  76  gravity. 
This  fraction  must  be  cooled  by  means  of  a  freezing  mixture. 
Then  follow  the  68°  and  65°  gasolines.  The  next  cut  furnishes 
naptha  or  benzine.  The  residue  together  with  the  light  prod- 
uct first  produced  from  the  kerosene  distillate  furnishes  tur- 
pentine substitute.  Each  of  these  distillates  is  placed  in  an 
agitator  which  is  simply  a  tall  lead-lined  tank  furnished  with 
perforated  pipes.  The  agitating  is  done  by  means  of  com- 
pressed air  blown  through  these  pipes.  Here  the  distillate  is 
treated  first  with  sulphuric  acid  and  then  with  caustic  soda 
solution.  The  distillate  is  finally  washed  with  water  and  al- 
lowed to  settle,  when  it  is  pumped  off  into  the  storage  tanks 
ready  for  shipment. 

The  kerosene  distillates  are  re-distilled  in  a  fire  heated  still. 
The  distillates  from  this  process  are  further  treated  in  steam 
stills  to  remove  the  light  products  which  would  give  the  kero- 
sene a  low  flash  and  fire  test.  Then  the  oil  is  treated  Avith  acid 
and  lye  in  agitators  just  as  with  the  gasoline  and  benzine  dis- 
tillates. These  treatments  remove  most  of  the  impurities-  which 
were  so  objectionable  in  the  first  illuminating  oils  produced  by 
distillation.  It  is  these  impurities  which  cause  the  oil  to  turn 
yellow  and  to  crust  and  clog  the  wick.  The  refining  process 
requires  great  care  and  skill  and  when  properly  conducted 
yields  a  very  high  grade  of  kerosene.  By  this  means  kerosenes 
i  of  different  fire  tests  are  produced ;  also  mineral  seal  oil,  which 
has  a  300°  fire  test.  The  final  residue  goes  into  gas  oil  distil- 
late. This  distillate  may  be  sold  untreated  or  it  may  also  be 
re-distilled. 


32  PETROLEUM 


The  wax  distillate  consists  of  a  solution  of  paraffine  wax 
in  lubricating  oils.  When  this  is  cooled  it  forms  a  mushy  mix- 
ture but  the  wax  does  not  crystalize  so  that  it  can  be  filtered  out 
successfully.  It  is  necessary  to  re-distill  this  oil  in  a  fire  heated 
still  in  order  to  "crack"  the  wax  so  that  it  will  crystalize.  This 
distillate  is  then  chilled  by  means  of  liquid  ammonia  and 
pressed  in  filter  presses.  The  paraffine  wax  is  removed  and  the 
oil  passes  on  into  another  tank.  The  filtrate  is  reduced  (as  the 
process  of  removing  light  oil  is  called)  by  live  steam.  This  also 
removes  most  of  the  odor  produced  by  high  temperature  during 
distillation  and  sweetens  the  oil.  This  light  distillate,  which  is 
very  thin,  is  again  slightly  reduced  by  live  steam  and  filtered 
through  bone  black  or  fuller's  earth.  At  present  fuller's  earth 
is  generally  used.  That  which  is  best  for  this  purpose  comes 
from  Florida.  It  is  used  in  a  finely  powdered  form.  The  filters 
are  simply  tall  conical  tanks  which  are  filled  wTith  the  earth  to 
a  depth  of  20  or  30  feet.  The  oil  is  allowed  to  filter  through 
this  earth  which  removes  most  of  the  color  and  at  the  same 
time  decreases  the  viscosity  and  increases  the  gravity.  The 
filtered  product  is  known  as-  a  non-viscous  neutral  oil.  Where 
an  especially  fine  grade  is  required,  this  oil  is  exposed  to  sun- 
light in  shallow  tanks.  This  treatment  still  further  bleaches 
the  oil  and  also  removes  the  fluorescence  or  "bloom"  which  can 
ordinarily  be  observed  on  looking  at  a  sample  of  mineral  oil, 
whereas,  the  color  which  is1  ordinarily  referred  to  is  that  shown 
by  looking  through  the  oil  toward  a  light.  The  heavier  oil  left 
after  the  removal  of  the  non-viscous  neutrals,  after  similar  treat- 
ment furnishes  the  oil  known  as  viscous  neutrals.  The  crude 
paraffine  wax  which  was  removed  by  the  filter  press  is  filtered 
hot  through  bone  black  and  pressed  again.  This  gives  crude 
scale  wax  which  is  used,  for  many  purposes.  When  it  is  to  be 
further  refined,  the  scale  wax  is  dissolved  in  benzine.  This  so- 
lution is  chilled  and  put  through  the  filter  press  again.  This 
gives  a  refined  wax,  but  in  order  to  raise  the  melting  point,  the 
product  must  be  "sweated."  This  sweating  consists  in  submit- 
ting the  cakes  of  wax,  for  several  hours,  to  a  temperature  about 
equal  to  the  desired  melting  point.  All  of  the  oil  and  lower 
melting  products  run  off  and  the  cakes1  become  honeycombed. 
This  refined  wax  is  again  melted  and  poured  in  cakes  of  various 
sizes,  yielding  the  paraffine  wax  so  well  known  to  every  one. 
The  melting  point  of  the  finished  product  will  depend  somewhat 
upon  the  crude  oil  used. 

The  residue  which  was  left  in  the  still  after  the  wax  distil- 
late was  run  off,  is  reduced  with  high  pressure  or  superheated 
steam  in  order  to  raise  the  fire  test.  The  exact  fire  test  of  the 
finished  oil,  of  course,  depends  on  the  point  to  which  the  origi- 
nal distillation  was  carried.  Cylinder  stocks  are  made  in  vari- 
ous tests  such  as  500,  550,  600,  650  and  700°  F.  The  lower  fiiv 
test  stocks  are  often  filtered,  yielding  oils  which  are  very  heavy 


REFINING 


and  viscous  but  yet  perfectly  transparent.  The  higher  fire  test 
oils  are  not  filtered.  Filtering  lowers  the  viscosity  and  raises 
the  gravity  and  cold  test. 

Another  process  which  is  largely  used  on  poorer  qualities  of 
crude  oil,  is  known  as  "running  to  tar."  This  process  is  prac- 
tically the  same  as  the  other  until  the  regular  kerosene  distil- 
late has  all  come  off.  Then  instead  of  increasing  the  fire,  the 
heat  is  lowered  so  that  the  vapors  will  condense  in  the  top  of 
the  still  and  drop  back  into  the  heated  oil.  By  this  means  de- 
composition occurs  and  a  considerable  amount  of  light  distil- 
late can  be  obtained  in  place  of  gas  oils  and  light  lubricating 
oils.  However,  this  "cracked"  distillate  does  not  yield  high  grade 
illuminating  oils  such  as  that  which  is  produced  by  the  previ- 
ous process.  It  requires  more  extensive  treatment  with  acid 
and  lye  and  even  then  yields  a  product  which  will  crust  and 
clog  the  wick.  The  tar  left  from  this  process  is  transferred  to 
small  heavily  built  "tar  stills."  The  wax  is  distilled  off  in  the 
form  of  a  paraffine  distillate  by  fire  heat.  Toward  the  end  of 
the  process  the  bottom  of  the  still  will  be  at  a  bright  red  heat. 
The  residue  is  petroleum  coke.  The  paraffine  distillate  is  treat- 
ed just  as  the  wax  distillate  is,  in  the  other  process.  The  oil 
pressed  from  the  wax,  furnishes  the  product  commonly  known 
as  paraffine  oil. 

In  the  case  of  illuminating  oil  distillation,  from  Ohio  crude 
oils,  special  treatment  is  required,  since  so  much  sulphur  is 
present.  One  process  consists  in  using  granular  copper  oxide 
in  the  still  or  re-distilling  with  this  compound.  The  sulphur 
unites  with  this  to  form  a  sulphide.  The  copper  oxide  can  be 
recovered  by  roasting  which  drives  off  the  sulphur  again.  An- 
other process  consists  in  agitating  the  oil  with  lye  and  lead 
oxide  or  litharge.  This  removes  the  sulphur  in  the  form  of  lead 
>mlphide.  Until  these  processes  were  devised,  the  Ohio  crudes 
could  scarcely  be  used  for  producing  illuminating  oils. 

Black  Oil  is  produced  by  practically  the  same  process  as 
cylinder  stocks  but  from  a  cheaper  grade  of  crude  oil  and  with 
a  good  deal  less  care.  Mid-Continent  crude  oils  which  come 
from  the  Kansas  and  Oklahoma  fields,  generally  contain  asphal- 
tum,  with  or  without  paraffine  wTax.  These  oils  with  an  asphal- 
tum  base  do  not  yield  satisfactory  cylinder  stocks  since  asphal- 
tum  is  not  a  gOQd  lubricant.  The  residue  left  in  the  still  after 
driving  off  lubricating  oil  and  wax  is  a  thick  tarry  liquid  which 
is  largely  used  in  the  manufacture  of  paving  materials  and 
oils  for  treating  roads.  When  this  asphaltum  is  oxidized  by 
blowing  air  through  it,  it  forms  a  rubbery  substance  or  when 
the  oxidation  is  pushed  further,  we  get  a  brittle  solid  resmbling 
I  coal  tar  pitch. 

The  Texas  Crude  Oil  does  not  contain  paraffine  wax  and  does 
not  furnish  cylinder  stock.  However,  the  general  distilling 


PETROLEUM 


processes  are  similar  for  all  grades  of  crude  oil.  The  gravities 
of  the  different  distillates  vary  with  the  crude  oil  used. 

Petrolatum,  commonly  sold  under  the  trade  name  of  "vase- 
line", is  produced  by  filtering  cylinder  stocks  from  carefully 
selected  crude  oils.  This  filtering  can  be  carried  to  a  point 
which  will  yield  a  perfectly  white  product.  The  melting  points 
are  raised  by  adding  refined  paraffine  wax.  The  white  mineral 
oils  which  have  become  so  popular  lately  for  medicinal  use 
are  simply  viscous  neutrals  which  have  been  filtered  until  all 
color  and'  odor  is  removed. 

In  the  early  days  of  oil  refining,  kerosene  was  the  most  valu- 
able product  and  every  effort  was  made  to  increase  the  yield. 
It  was  for  this  reason  that  the  cracking  process  referred  to, 
was  used  so  extensively.  However,  with  the  introduction  of  the 
gasoline  engine,  gasoline  became  more  valuable  and  a  great 


Courtesy  of  Robert  B.  Moran. 
Oil  Wells  Drilled  in  the  Bed  of  the  Ocean  in  the  Summerland  Field  California. 

many  processes  were  patented  for  increasing  the  yield  of  gaso- 
line. Most  of  these  are  based  on  distillation  at  a  high  tempera- 
ture and  considerable  pressure.  The  process  used  by  The 
Standard  Oil  Company  for  producing  their  motor  spirits,  is 
based  on  this  principle.  Another  somewhat  similar  process  is 
the  new  Rittman  method  wThich  has  been  worked  out  by  govern- 
ment scientists  and  is  now  being  tried  out  on  a  large  scale. 
It  is  claimed  that  this  process  can  be  arranged  either  to  pro- 
duce considerable  percentages'  of  hydro-carbons  of  the  coal  tar 
series,  or  the  regular  paraffine  hydro-carbons  such  as  occur  in 
the  light  distillates  of  Pennsylvania  kerosene.  In  either  case 
these  hydro-.carbons  are  produced  by  some  decomposition  of 
the  higher  boiling  constituents  of  the  oil. 

Still  another  process  consists  in  the  addition  of  aluminum 


REFINING  35 


chloride  to  the  contents  of  the  still.  It  is  claimed  that  by  this 
process  hydrogen  is  abstracted  from  the  higher  boiling  con- 
stituents and  caused  to  combine  with  hydro-carbons  contain- 
ining  a  smaller  percentage  of  hydrogen  thus  producing  paraf- 
fine  hydro-carbons  and  leaving  a  deposit  of  coke.  Hundreds  of 
other  "processes  have  been  patented,  for  this  purpose,  but  have 
not  proved  practical. 

There  are  certain  characteristics  of  the  different  crude  oils 
which  appear  throughout  all  their  products  and  make  it  pos- 
sible generally  to  determine  from  what  crude  any  particular 
oil  was  produced.  Starting  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  United 
States,  we  find  that  the  products  of  Pennsylvania  crude  are 
characterized  by  their  high  gravity,  high  flash  and  fire  test,  and 
high  cold  test,  with  only  a  moderate  viscosity.  The  best  Penn- 
sylvania lubricating  oils  will  have  a  viscosity  of  from  200  to 
240.  The  gravities  will  run  from  30  to  32°  B,  decreasing 
as  the  viscosity  increases.  The  flash  test  would  be  about  415, 
fire  test  about  480,  cold  test  20°  F.  above  zero.  These  oils  can 
be  readily  produced  in  No.  2  and  No.  3  colors. 

The  oils  from  the  central  states  run  much  lower  in  gravity, 
from  23  to  25°  B,  the  viscosities  running  from  200  to  400°  F. 
The  colors  are  much  darker,  these  being  the  popular  "red  oils." 
The  oils  from  the  Mid-Continent  field  ( Kansas  and  Oklahoma ) 
have  gravities  of  from  25  to  26°  B. ;  viscosities  from  200  to 
325;  flash  test  is  about  410,  fire  test  470.  The  colors  will 
vary  from  No.  2  for  the  thinner  oils  to  No.  5  for  the  thick  oils, 
cold  test  is  about  10°  above  zero. 

The  Texas  oils  are  characterized  by  their  high  viscosities, 
running  up  as  high  as  3,000.  At  the  same  time,  they  have  a  low 
cold  test,  about  5°  below  zero,  gravity  19  to  20°  B,  flash  about 
390,  fire  test  about  450. 

Another  distinction  lies  in  the  difference  in  the  bloom  or 
fluoresence  of  the  oil.  The  Pennsylvania  and  other  central  state 
oils,  have  a  greenish  bloom.  Those  from  the  Mid-Continent  field 
are  slightly  bluish  while  the  Texas  oils  have  a  decidedly  blue 
bloom.  The  Russian  oils,  as  has  already  been  mentioned,  are 
of  a  decidedly  different  character  from  the  American  oils.  They 
are  characterized  by  very  low  cold  tests  and  high  viscosities. 
These  high  viscosity  oils  can  be  produced  in  very  light  colors. 
Some  of  the  best  are  perfectly  colorless  and  tasteless  and  yet 
almost  as  thick  as  glycerine. 

Of  course  the  gasolines  and  kerosenes  do  not  show  differences 
in  color,  nor  can  they  be  judged  by  the  viscosity,  but  it  is  a  fact 
that  a  70  to  72  Pennsylvania  gasoline  has  practically  the  same 
distilling  temperature  and  the  same  rate  of  evaporation  as  a 
68°  Mid-Continent  gasoline  and  the  high  grade  49°  Pennsylva- 
nia kerosene  is  equaled  if  not  exceeded  in  quality  by  the  46° 
Mid-Continent  kerosene.  In  the  same  manner,  an  eastern  ben- 
zine or  naptha  has  a  gravity  of  58  to  60,  while  the  Mid-Conti- 
nent product  of  the  same  quality  has  a  gravity  of  53  to  55. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

PETROLEUM  PRODUCTS  AND  THEIR  USES. 

Natural  gas  furnishes  one  of  the  most  desirable  fuels  known. 
It  is  largely  used  in  melting  iron  and  manufacturing  steel; 
also  in  burning  cement  and  for  all  purposes  where  a  clean 
ashless  fuel  is  desired.  It  can  be  piped  for  long  distances  so 
that  whenever  a  good  natural  gas  field  is  discovered,  arrange- 
ments are  soon  made  to  carry  it  to  some  large  manufacturing 
city  where  there  will  be  plenty  of  use  for  it.  In  many  places 
it  is  piped  throughout  the  cities  and  used  for  illuminating  and 
domestic  purposes  also. 

In  the  early  days  of  the  petroleum  industry,  enormous 
amounts  of  gas  were  wasted.  In  many  cases  street  lights  were 
allowed  to  burn  all  of  the  time  since  it  was  considered  cheaper 
to  do  this  than  to  pay  someone  to  turn  them  off.  A  great  deal 
of  gas  is  still  wasted  at  times  in  new  fields  for  lack  of  pipe 
lines,  to  carry  the  gas  to  market.  In  some  cases  after  giving 
gas  for  some  time,  wells  will  yield  oil,  so  the  gas  may  be  al- 
lowed to  escape  in  the  hope  that  this  will  occur. 

Crude  petroleum  from  some  sources  is  used  as  a  natural  lu- 
bricant, but  very  few  wells  yield  a  crude  oil  which  is  satisfac- 
tory for  this  purpose  without  refining.  Beaumont  crude  oil 
from  Texas  has  been  largely  used  in  dipping  cattle  for  Texas 
fever.  Crude  oil  is  also  considerably  used  as  a  hog  dip.  Many 
people  have  a  strong  belief  that  it  is  valuable  as  a  preventative 
of  baldness  and  many  efforts  have  been  made  to  put  it  up  in  a 
popular  form  by  disguising  the  odor,  but  no  very  great  market 
has  been  developed.  In  fact,  Kier  probably  had  more  success 
in  selling  crude  petroleum  for  medicinal  purposes,  than  any  of 
his  successors. 

Until  recent  years  86°  gasoline  was  commonly  sold  as  lamp 
gasoline.  This  product  was  produced  from  Pennsylvania  petro- 
leum, but  only  obtained  in  small  amounts.  It  is  extremely  vola- 
tile and  when  properly  distilled  leaves  no  oily  residue.  Some 
of  it  when  re-distilled  and  carefully  refined  is  put  out  as  petro- 
leum spirit  or  petroleum  ether  which  is  used  as  a  solvent  in 
place  of  ether  or  chloroform,  also  in  the  extraction  of  some  per- 
fume oils.  Petroleum  ether  is  valuable  for  these  purposes  be- 
cause it  can  be  completely  evaporated  at  a  low  temperature  and 

36 


PRODUCTS 


does  not  leave  a  trace  of  odor.  At  one  time  it  was  customary 
to  prepare  an  even  more  volatile  product  which  was  used  for 
cooling  purposes  since  it  produced  a  low  temperature  by  evapo- 
ration, very  much  as  can  be  done  with  ether.  Within  the  past 
'few  years  it  has  been  found  possible  to  produce,  from  natural 
gas,  a  product  similar  to  this  86°  gasoline.  This  is  accomplished 
by  subjecting  the  gas  to  great  pressure  and  low  temperature. 
At  first  this  process  was  applied  particularly  to  the  gas  pro- 
duced from  wells  which  were  pumped,  since  the  gas  produced 
under  several  inches  of  vacuum  would  naturally  contain  some 
of  the  low  boiling  ingredients  of  the  petroleum  from  which  the 
gas  was  evolved.  It  is  very  natural,  as  gas  escapes  from  petro- 
leum, that  it  should  carry  with  it  a  small  amount  of  all  of  the 
volatile  ingredients.  Of  course,  those  most  volatile  will  be  pres- 
ent in  large  amounts  and  the  higher  boiling  ingredients  in 
smaller  proportions.  The  gasoline  produced  by  this  process 
may  have  a  gravity  as  high  as  100°  B.  and  when  placed  in  a 
closed  container  will  develop  a  great  deal  of  pressure,  since 
the  process  liquifies  substances  which  are  naturally  gaseous  at 
the  ordinary  temperature. 

For  this  reason  when  poured  out  in  an  open  vessel,  a  violent 
effervescence  occurs,  very  much  the  same  as  that  produced  when 
a  bottle  of  pop  is  poured  out  into  a  glass.  Gasoline  having  this 
characteristic  is  said  to  be  "wild."  Effervescence,  of  course,  is 
due  to  the  escape  of  the  gas  produced  from  these  low  boiling  in- 
gredients ;  also  to  the  fa,ct  that  pressure  has  charged  the  liquid 
with  uncondensable  gases  which  escape  as  soon  as  the  pressure 
is  removed.  In  order  to  make  the  product  safe  to  ship,  it  is 
necessary  to  let  it  stand  for  some  time  in  tanks,  so  that  the 
gas  may  escape.  This  process  is  known  as  "weathering."  The 
weathered  product  is  sold  as  "casing  head"  or  "natural  gas" 
gasoline.  While  this  is  very  volatile,  at  the  same  time  it  con- 
tains some  higher  boiling  ingredients,  so  that  when  equal 
amounts  of  this  product  and  of  a  gasoline  distilled  from  crude 
petroleum  are  allowed  to  stand  in  open  dishes,  it  will  be  found 
that  although  the  natural  gas  gasoline  evaporates  faster  at 
first,  it  will  leave  an  oily  residue  which  will  not  evaporate,  until 
long  after  the  straight  run  product  has  entirely  disappeared. 
The  product  is  generally  used  for  mixing  with  lower  gravity 
gasolines,  and  of  course  imparts  to  them  some  of  this  oiliness, 
so  that  they  are  no  longer  "dry."  (This  term  does  not  refer  to 
the  absence  of  moisture,  but  to  the  fact  that  a  gasoline  evapo- 
rates rapidly  and  leaves  no  oily  stain).  At  first  a  great  deal 
of  dissatisfaction  and  many  complaints  were  produced  by 
efforts  to  use  the  product,  but  recently  it  has  become  customary 
to  re-distill  it  and  by  this  means  a  product  of  about  75  gravity 
can  be  produced  from  western  gas,  which  is  equally  as1  satis- 
factory for  lamp  gasoline  as  the  86°  eastern  straight  run  gaso- 
line. Distillation  gives  the  only  satisfactory  means  of  testing 


38  PETROLEUM 


these  products.  It  will  be  found  that  a  high  grade  re-distilled 
article  will  have  an  end  point  of  about  275°  F. 

The  gasoline  ordinarily  sold  as  a  high  grade  automobile  gaso- 
line, will  have  a  gravity  of  TO  to  72  if  produced  from  Pennsyl- 
vania crude,  or  68  to  70,  if  produced  from  Mid-Continent  crude. 
Distillation  will  show  that  the  western  product  is  really  more 
readily  volatilized  than  the  eastern,  since  it  will  have  an  end 
point  of  about  325  while  the  eastern  will  often  leave  2  or  3% 
of  residue  at  350°  F.  A  product  of  similar  gravity,  of  course, 
can  be  produced  by  mixing  naptha  or  benzine  with  natural  gas 
gasoline.  These  mixed  products  are  known  as  "blended  gaso- 
line." They  yield  gas1  more  readily  than  the  straight  run  of 
the  same  gravity  but  will  not  entirely  evaporate  so  quickly. 
When  stored  in  tanks  where  the  gas  can  evaporate,  there  will  be 
a  greater  percentage  of  evaporation  from  the  blended  product 
in  warm  weather.  Otherwise  it  is  equally  as  satisfactory  and 
in  cold  weather  perhaps  more  satisfactory  for  automobile  use 
than  the  straight  run  goods,  provided  the  products  used  in 
blending  are  dry. 

The  ordinary  stove  gasoline  will  have  ii  gravity  of  anywhere 
from  60  to  65,  when  produced  from  Pennsylvania  crude,  or  58 
to  60  from  Mid-Continent  crude.  On  distillation,  these  prod- 
ucts, when  well  made,  Avill  leave  about  3^^  residue  above 
350°  F.  The  uses  of  gasoline  are  so  well  known,  that  it  is 
scarcely  necessary  to  enumerate  them.  A  few  of  the  uses  are, 
for  automobiles,  gasoline  engines  of  all  kinds,  aeroplanes,  gaso- 
line launches  and  boats, — in  fact,  for  running  nearly  any  kind 
of  small  machinery  where  electric  power  is  not  available.  It 
is  also  used  for  cooking  and  lighting  purposes. 

Benzine  or  naptha  from  Pennsylvania  crude,  has  a  gravity  of 
58  to  60,  from  Mid-Continent,  53  to  55.  On  distillation  these 
products  will  leave  about  the  same  amount  of  residue  above 
3*50  as  that  from  stove  gasoline,  but  it  will  be  found  that  the 
greater  part  of  the  distillate  is  between  200  and  300°  whereas, 
the  lighter  gravity  products  give  a  much  larger  percentage  be- 
low 200.  Benzine  is  the  product  commonly  used  by  dry  clean- 
ers and  is  also  largely  used  in  the  manufacture  of  varnishes 
and  paints,  when  it  is  more  commonly  referred  to  as  "painters' 
naptha."  It  is  also  used  as  a  solvent  for  extracting  various 
kinds  of  oils  from  waste  products  or  from  crushed  seeds.  For 
instance,  a  low  grade  olive  oil  is  produced  by  extracting  the 
crushed  seeds  with  naptha  after  as  much  oil  as  possible  has  been 
removed  by  pressure.  The  same  thing  is  done  in  the  case  of 
cocoanut  oil,  corn  oil  and  many  others.  The  naptha  is  removed 
by  heat  and  blowing  air  or  steam  through  the  oil.  Naptha  is 
also  used  in  some  processes  for  extracting  rosin  and  turpentine 
from  sawdust  and  other  wood  waste. 

Turpentine  substitute  may  be  considered  to  be  either  a  very 
high  boiling  benzine  or  a  very  volatile  kerosene.  It  has  a  flash 


PRODUCTS  39 


test  at  least  as  high  as  105  and  vet  will  evaporate  completely 
leaving  no  oily  residue.  As  its  name  indicates,  it  is  largely 
used  as  a  substitute  for  turpentine  in  the  manufacture  of  paints, 
varnishes,  shoe  polish,  etc.;  also  as  a  general  solvent  wherever 
its  high  boiling  point  is  not  objectionable. 

From  Pennsylvania  crude,  it  is  customary  to  produce  kero- 
senes of  about  49  and  45  gravities.  The  high  gravity  product 
has  generally  been  considered  the  best  grade  of  kerosene  it  is 
possible  to  produce.  However,  the  46  gravity  kerosene,  manu- 
factured from  Mid-Continent  Crude,  will  generally  prove  at 
least  as  good  and  oftentimes  better,  although  it  is  slightly 
cheaper.*  From  the  Mid-Continent  Crude,  one  or  two  lower 
grades  are  produced  also;  the  second  grade  will  have  about  42 
gravity  and  the  third,  40  to  41  gravity.  Just  as  we  have  found 
to  be  the  case  with  gasolines  from  different  crudes,  it  will  be 
found  that  the  46  western  kerosene  is  more  volatile  than  the  49 
eastern.  This  can  be  shown  by  distillation  tests.  It  will  be 
found  that  the  49  eastern  kerosene  will  give  perhaps  5%  of 
distillate  below  280  and  leave  a  4  or  %c/c  residue  above  570, 
while  the  range  of  the  4C>  western  will  be  between  300  and  500. 

It  has  been  the  custom  to  judge  kerosene  by  gravity  just  as 
has  been  done  with  gasoline.  It  will  readily  be  seen  from  the 
conditions  mentioned,  that  the  method  is  no  more  reliable  for 
kerosene  than  for  gasoline,  for  a  46  western  kerosene  would 'be 
far  superior  to  the  same  gravity  from  eastern  crude  and  at 
least  equal  to  the  49  gravity.  For  this  reason  state  inspection 
laws  which  require  the  inspector  to  determine  the  gravity,  fur- 
nish very  little  protection  to  the  consumer.  The  only  correct 
way  to  determine  the  quality  of  kerosene  is  to  actually  burn  it, 
using  a  clean  lamp,  new  wick,  and  clean  chimney.  By  apply- 
ing this  test,  it  does  not  take  an  expert  to  tell  the  difference. 
High  grade  kerosene  whether  eastern  or  western,  will  leave  the 
chimney  practically  clean,  and  the  wick  will  show  only  a  slight 
charring  even  if  the  kerosene  is  allowed  to  burn  out  dry,  where- 
as, with  poor  grades  of  kerosene,  the  chimney  will  be  badly 
fogged  or  frosted  and  the  wick  will  be  found  heavily  crusted. 
These  tests  can  be  brought  out  even  more  strongly  by  repeating 
the  tests  several  times  with  the  same  wick.  It  will  soon  be 
found  that  in  using  poor  kerosene  it  is  impossible  to  get  satisfac- 
tory results  unless  the  wick  is  changed  very  frequently.  As  this 
is  not  the  common  custom,  it  is  easy  to  see  why  so  much  kero- 
sene gives  such  unsatisfactor}^  results.  Many  states  require 
inspection  to  determine  either  the  flash  or  fire  point  of  kerosene. 
This  requirement  dates  from  the  time  when  gasoline  was  prac- 
tically unsaleable  and  every  effort  was  made  to  increase  the 
yield  of  kerosene.  It  was  natural  enough  that  some  manufac- 
turers in  doing  this  would  put  in  enough  gasoline  or  benzine  to 

*  References  to  comparative  cost  of  production  frpm  Pennsylvania  and  Mid-Continent  Crudes 
are  of  course  based  on  costs  at  the  refinery.  For  eastern  localities,  the  great  difference  in  freight 
rates  may  reverse  the  figures. 


40 


PETROLEUM 


produce  a  very  low  flash  test  and  it  was  necessary  then  to  have 
the  goods  tested  in  order  to  determine  whether  or  not  they  had 
a  safe  flash  or  fire  point,  but  for  many  years  gasoline  has  been 
far  more  expensive  than  kerosene  and  the  refiners  efforts  are 
devoted  to  increasing  the  yield  of  gasoline  at  the  expense  of 
kerosene,  so  that  it  would  be  practically  impossible  to  buy  any 
kerosene  which  would  show  an  unsafe  flash  or  fire  test.  On 
account  of  the  emphasis  which  has  been  placed  on  the  fire  test, 
many  make  the  mistake  of  judging  the  quality  of  the  kerosene 
by  the  fire  test,  considering  that  the  higher  the  fire  test  the  bet- 
ter the  goods.  The  reverse  is  the  truth,  that  is,  the  higher  grav- 
ity kerosenes  have  the  lower  flash  tests,  while  the  low  gravity, 
poor  products,  have  high  fire  and  flash  tests. 

Mineral  Seal  Oil,  also  known  as  Mineral  Colza  or  Mineral 


Courtesy  of  the  National  Petroleui 
Machinery  Used  in  Producing  Casing  Head  Gasoline  at  Glenpool,  Oklahoma, 

Sperm,  has  a  fire  test  of  300°  and  is  used  in  some  cases  for  man- 
ufacturing signal  oil,  or  wherever  a  very  high  test  illuminating 
oil  is  required. 

Engine  distillate  largely  used  in  kerosene  tractors,  is  prac- 
tically, a  very  low  grade  of  unrefined  kerosene.  Gas  oil, 
as  its  name  implies,  is  largely  used  by  gas  plants  to  impart 
illuminating  qualities  to  gas.  This  is  accomplished  by  spraying 
the  oil  on  very  highly  heated  brick  work,  so  that  it  is  decom- 
posed into  gases  of  high  illuminating  power.  Gas  oil  is  also 
used  in  internal  combustion  engines  and  sometimes  as  a  fuel 
oil  for  burning  purposes. 

Soap  Stock  Oil  is  a  very  thin  light  colored  non-viscous  neu- 
tral oil.  Oils  of  this  class  are  used  as  adulterants  in  soaps,  for 
burning  in  miners'  lamps,  for  lubricating  presses  in  brick  plants 


PRODUCTS  41 


and  in  compounding  oils  for  many  different  purposes. 

The  Non- Viscous  Neutral  oils  in  various  viscosities  and  col- 
ors are  used  for  lubricating  hand  separators,  sewing  machines 
and  other  light,  fast  running  machinery.  The  highly  refined 
grades  are  used  for  greasing  the  slabs  on  which  candy  is  poured 
to  cool,  in  candy  factories.  Non-viscous  neutrals  which  have 
been  bleached  to  a  very  light  color,  are  especially  useful  for  lu- 
brication of  machinery  in  woolen  mills,  since  these  oils  do  not 
produce  stains  if  they  get  on  the  goods. 

Parafflne  Oil,  which  runs  a  little  higher  in  viscosity,  is  used  in 
the  manufacture  of  sweeping  compound,  floor  oils,  as  a  lubri- 
cant for  light  machinery,  and  as  an  insulating  medium  for 
transformers. 

The  Viscous  Neutral  Oils  furnish  the  lubricating  oils  which 
are  most  commonly  used  for  automobiles,  gas  engines,  aero- 
planes, dynamos,  turbines  and  air  compressers.  It  must  be 
borne  in  mind  that  oils  very  similar  in  appearance  can  be  pro- 
duced either  from  Pennsylvania  or  Mid-Continent  crudes.  These 
oils  will  have  equal  viscosities  and  provided  they  are  properly 
manufactured,  it  is  very  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to  distin- 
guish them  in  actual  use.  There  has  been  considerable  preju- 
dice against  western  oils,  for  automobiles  especially.  Undoubt- 
edly there  was  ground  for  this  at  first  for  refiners  had  not 
learned  how  to  produce  high  grade  lubricants  from  these  new 
crudes.  In  many  cases,  the  oils  were  refined  with  acid  and 
alkali,  instead  of  being  filtered,  in  order  to  produce  light  col- 
ors. Oils  so  refined,  generally  contain  a  little  acid  and  corrode 
bearings.  They  also  give  much  more  carbon  in  gas  engines  and 
automobile  cylinders,  than  are  produced  by  oils  which  are  fil- 
tered to  a  light  color,  but  at  the  same  time,  high  grade  filtered 
oils  are  produced  from  crudes  from  either  source,  and  are  prac- 
tically equivalent  for  all  practical  purposes. 

As  the  Pennsylvania  crude  oil  is  becoming  very  scarce  and  in 
some  cases  people  will  only  use  Pennsylvania  oil,  these  prod- 
ucts bring  a  higher  price  than  those  from  western  crudes.  Un- 
doubtedly several  times  as  much  Pennsylvania  lubricating  oil 
is  sold  as  is  produced  in  a  year,  the  case  being  very  similar  to 
that  of  "pure  Vermont  Maple  Syrup."  The  average  consumer 
is  absolutely  unable  to  tell  the  difference  and  must  depend  en- 
tirely upon  the  reliability  of  the  company  from  whom  he  buys. 
This  same  statement  applies  to  most  of  the  petroleum  products, 
for  only  the  large  buyers  purchasing  in  tank  car  lots  can  afford 
to  have  all  of  the  tests  made  which  would  be  necessary  to  deter- 
mine whether  they  are  securing  just  what  they  pay  for.  Re- 
liable jobbers  have  their  own  laboratories  completely  equipped 
for  this  purpose  and  therefore  are  in  position  to  know  abso- 
lutely what  they  are  selling.  They  will  not  misinform  dealers 
who  purchase  from  them  and  if  the  dealers  are  also  honest,  the 
consumer  will  be  certain  that  he  is  getting  what  he  is  paying 
for.  It  is  a  fact  that  a  great  many  automobiles  and  other  high 


I'ETlKK.Ki  M 


n 


PRODUCTS 


grade  machines  have  been  successfully  lubricated  for  a  good 
many  years  from  oils  produced  from  western  crudes  and  there 
seems  absolutely  no  reason  for  believing  that  an  oil  must  be 
made  from  Pennsylvania  crude  to  be  satisfactory.  Poor  oils 
are  produced  from  either  source  and  are  expensive  at  any  price. 

Red  oils  in  viscosities  of  from  200  to  300  are  produced  from 
Ohio  or  Indiana  crudes.  These  are  very  largely  used  for  engine 
oils  and  general  purpose  machine  oil.  Oils  very  similar  and  of 
similar  viscosities  are  also  produced  from  Mid-Continent  crudes 
but  are  not  as  red  in  color  for  the  same  viscosity.  The  Texas 
oils,  as  mentioned  before,  are  especially  notable  for  their  low 
cold  test.  For  this  reason  they  are  especially  used  for  lubricat- 
ing windmills,  ice  machines  and  other  machinery  exposed  to  low 
temperatures.  In  addition,  these  oils  can  be  produced  in  much 
higher  viscosities  than  those  from  other  crudes.  Therefore, 
*hey  are  largely  used  for  harvester  oil,  and  for  lubricating  other 
jeavy  slow  running  machinery.  These  oils  can  be  produced 
ranging  as  high  as  3,000  viscosity. 

Filtered  Cylinder  Stocks  are  not  ordinarily  used  for  steam 
cylinder  oils  except  those  of  the  highest  grade.  They  are  con- 
siderably used  for  compounding  with  viscous  neutrals  to  pro- 
duce oils  of  higher  viscosity  than  can  be  produced  by  distilla- 
tion. By  this  means,  of  course,  it  is  possible  to  make  oils  of 
almost  any  required  viscosity.  These  stocks,  also  make  fine  mo- 
torcycle oils. 

The  Steam  Refined  Cylinder  Stocks  which  are  commonly  used 
for  steam  cylinder  oils,  range  from  600  to  700  fire  test.  Those  of 
lower  fire  test  are  particularly  used  for  low  pressure  engines 
and  are  usually  compounded  with  from  6  to  12%  of  acideless 
tallow  oil,  lard  oil,  or  neatsfoot  oil.  As  the  pressure  of  the 
steam  to  be  used  increases-,  the  amount  of  animal  oil  is  decreased 
and  for  very  high  pressure  or  superheated  steam,  only  straight 
mineral  stocks  of  high  fire  test,  are  used.  Until  the  introduc- 
tion of  petroleum  cylinder  stocks,  it  was  practically  impos- 
sible to  run  steam  engines  with  high  pressure  steam  on  account 
of  the  difficulty  in  properly  lubricating  the  cylinders.  If  ani- 
mal or  vegetable  oils  are  used  for  this  purpose,  they  will  be  de- 
composed by  the  high  temperature,  forming  fatty  acids  which 
corrode  the  metal  of  the  cylinders,  uniting  with  it  to  form  soaps, 
which  will  greatly  increase  the  friction  and  in  the  course  of 
time,  ruin  the  cylinders.  High  grade  cylinder  stocks  are  of  a 
greenish,  not  a  brownish  color.  It  is  necessary  in  applying  this 
test  to  compare  stocks  of  the  same  fire  test,  for  those  of  high 
fire  test,  even  though  of  the  best  quality,  are  more  brownish 
than  those  of  low  fire  test.  It  is  also  important  that  they 
should  be  free  from  tar  or  other  matter  insoluble  in  gasoline. 
The  best  stocks  are  as  free  from  odor  and  taste  as  vaseline. 

Fuel  oil  consists  of  the  residue  left  after  distillation  of  gaso- 
line and  kerosene  from  the  crude.  This,  of  course,  will  be  of 
various  gravities  and  consistencies,  depending  on  the  source 


PETROLEUM 


of  the  crude.  In  a  good  many  cases,  light  oils  which  are  not 
especially  valuable  for  other  purposes  may  be  added  to  the  fuel 
oil,  so  that  it  is  very  apt  to  represent  a  mixture  of  various  prod- 
ucts and  residues,  which  can  be  more  profitably  sold  this  way 
than  as  refined  products. 

Koad  Oils  are  very  similar  to  fuel  oils,  but  usually  of  higher 
viscosity  and  containing  a  considerable  amount  of  asphalt, 
which  may  all  have  been  present  in  the  crude  oil,  or  part  of  it 
may  have  been  added  to  produce  the  necessary  consistency. 

Petroleum  Coke  furnishes  a  very  high  grade  fuel,  since  it  is 
practically  pure  carbon  and  contains  very  little  ash.  It  is 


Courtesy  of  the  National  Petroleum  News 

Oil  Well  at  Katalla,  Alaska. 

sometimes  used  in  the  manufacture  of  artists'  crayons,  etc.,  or 
wherever  a  practically  pure  form  of  carbon  is  desired.  Petro- 
leum asphalts  of  various  consistencies  are  very  largely  used 
in  the  manufacture  of  paving  compounds,  roofing  paper,  paint 
and  cement ;  also  in  rubber  substitutes. 

Paraffine  Wax  in  various  melting  points  is  used  for  forming 
an  air  and  water  tight  coating  for  cheese,  meats,  sausages  and 
other  food  products ;  also  for  coating  the  inside  of  barrels,  cheese 
boxes  and  butter  tubs;  for  polishing  wooden  handles,  spokes 
and  other  wooden  ware,  and  in  the  manufacture  of  water  proof 
paper  from  which  signs,  ice  cream  pails,  milk  bottle  caps  and 
sanitary  drinking  cups  are  produced.  As  is  well  known  it  is 
also  largely  used  for  various  household  purposes,  especially  for 
sealing  fruits  and  jellies. 


PRODUCTS 


Petrolatum  ("vaseline")  in  various  colors  both  with  and  with- 
out medication,  is  largely  used  as  an  ointment,  and  in  the  manu- 
facture of  salves  and  other  medicinal  products. 

White  Mineral  Oil,  produced  from  either  Russian  or  Penn 
sylvania  crude,  is  largely  used  in  the  manufacture  of  cold 
creams ;  also  for  various  medicinal  purposes.    The  chief  require- 
ment is  that  it  shall  be  absolutely  tasteless,  odorless  and  color- 
l"ss  and  that  it  shall  not  turn  yellow  on  exposure  to  light. 

Mineral  Castor  Oil  is  used  as  a  cheap  lubricant  wherever  an 
oil  of  a  very  high  viscosity  is  required.  It  is  manufactured  from 
cheap  non-viscous  oils  to  which  is  added  aluminum  soap.  This 
is  not  a  soap  in  the  ordinary  sense  of  the  word,  for  it  is  not 
soluble  in  water,  but  it  is  referred  to  chemically  as  a  soap,  since 
it  is  a  compound  of  a  metal  with  fatty  acids.  When  the  metal 
is  sodium  or  potassium,  we  have  ordinary  soap.  When  it  is 
aluminum,  calcium,  lead,  or  some  other  metal,  we  have  an  in- 
soluble soap.  The  lead  plaster  frequently  used  in  pharmacy 
is  a  lead  soap  of  this  class.  The  particular  soap,  used  in  the 
production  of  mineral  castor  oil,  is  an  aluminum  soap  which  is 
generally  manufactured  from  cotton  seed  oil.  This  oil  is  very 
stringy  and  appears  to  have  a  very  high  viscosity,  but  actually 
its  lubricating  value  is  very  slight  and  it  is  not  at  all  to  be  rec- 
ommended for  any  lubricating  purposes.  In  a  great  many  cases 
part  of  the  soap  separates  from  the  oil,  especially  in  the  pres- 
ence of  moisture,  and  it  is  then  of  even  less  value. 

Ordinary  Cup  Grease  and  Transmission  Grease  are  similar- 
products  made  with  calcium  or  lime  soaps.  Their  manufacture 
requires  a  great  deal  of  skill  and  care,  but  essentially  they  are 
composed  of  mineral  oil  and  the  insoluble  lime  soap.  The  grease 
is  made  by  boiling  the  animal  fat  with  milk  of  lime  until  it  is 
all  changed  into  lime  soap  and  the  moisture  has  practically  all 
been  driven  out.  This  soap  is  then  thinned  down  with  mineral 
oil  to  the  consistency  desired.  The  lubricating  value  of  the 
grease  depends  chiefly  on  the  quality  of  the  mineral  oil  used. 
So-called  fibre  greases  are  produced  from  mineral  oil  and  soda 
soap.  The  ordinary  soda  soap,  which  is  common  hard  soap, 
when  thoroughly  dry  will  dissolve  to  a  small  amount  in  mineral 
oils.  These  mixtures  furnish  the  fibre  greases. 

All  of  the  greases  referred  to  above  are  known  as  "made" 
greases  since  they  have  to  be  produced  by  the  aid  of  heat  and 
long  continued  stirring  and  cooking.  Axle  Greases,  on  the  other 
hand,  are  known  as  "set"  greases.  They  consist  of  mineral  oil 
and  lime  rosin  soap  and  are  made  without  heat.  The  ingre- 
dients are  made  up  in  two  separate  mixtures.  These  mixtures 
when  stirred  together  in  the  proper  proportion  form  the  grease, 
which  "sets"  in  a  few  minutes. 


. 
" 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Petroleum :    By  Sir  Boverton  Kedwood.     D.  So.,  F.  K.  S.  E. 
Three  volumes,  138  tables,  32  plates  and  maps,  345  figures  in 

the  text,  1,167  pages. 
$15.00.    J.  B.  Lippincott  Company,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

Oil  Fuel:     Its  Supply,  Composition  &  Application.     By   Ed- 
ward Butler,  M.  I.  M.  E. 
150  illustrations,  328  pages. 
$2.25.    J.  B.  Lippincott  Company,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

Lubrication  &  Lubricants.  By  Leonard  Archbutt  and  R.  Mount 

ford  Deeley. 

103  tables,  157  figures  in  the  text. 
$7.50     J.  B.  Lippincott  Company,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

A  Handbook  on  Petroleum.    By  Capt.  J.  M.  Thomson,  Sir  Bov 

erton  Redwood  and  A.  Cooper-Key. 
$3.00.    J.  B.  Lippincott  Company,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

The  Story  of  Oil.    By  Walter  Sheldon  Tower. 

271  pages,  35  illustrations.    D.  Appleton  &  Co.,  New  York. 

International  Correspondence  Schools  Reference  Library,  Vol 

85. 
International  Text  Book  Co.,  Scranton,  Pa. 

Mineral  Resources  of  the  United  States.     Department  of  the 
Interior,  U.  S.  Geological  Survey,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Technology  of  Petroleum.     By  H.  Neuburger  and  H.  Noalhat 
153  ill., *25  plates,  670  pp.     $10.00.     D.  Van  Nostrand  Co, 

N.  Y. 

Oil  Production  Methods.    By  P.  M.  Paine  and  B.  K.  Stroud 
21 6  ill.,  37  forms.    $3.00.    D.  Van  Nostrand  Co.,  N.  Y. 

Oil  Prospecting  and  Extraction.    By  F.  J.  S.  Sur. 
64  pp.    $1.00.    D.  Van  NostramfCo.,  N.  Y. 

Oil  Fields  of  Russia  and  the  Russian  Petroleum  Industry      By 

A.  B.  Thompson. 
93  ill.    $7.50.    D   Van  Nostrand  Co.,  N.  Y. 


46 


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